The Infection
by blind-runaway
Summary: A new disease has come around in Republic City. The Avatar, his wife, and the council are left to try interpret what it is. (Shipping pair: Kataang Rated M for mature content
1. The Quarantine

**A new disease has come around in Republic City. The Avatar, his wife, and the council are left to try interpret what it is, with the help of the Biology and Other Sciences Unit's help ("fanon" association I made up, it kind of plays the roll of the CDC, here in America).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA (or LoK)**

**1\. The Quarantine**

* * *

For the first time in a year, Aang and Katara had finally gotten the chance to go on a date. The young couple hadn't left their home together since before their son, Bumi, was born. Every time they planned to go out they were left having to cancel. Either Aang would have emergency meetings or crime to solve, Sokka or Suki would cancel on babysitting due to similar reasons, or Katara would have an emergency call-in for work over at the clinic. The two finally could leave the house and not feel guilty, just relieved.

Aang took her on a formal date to Kuong's Cuisine. It took a short while to get them seated since the restaurant was nearly full. Once they sat down at table near the back of the restaurant, they started off with ordering drinks. They were already given small glasses of water, but they wanted to order something different. Together they decided on a bottle of red wine.

"So have you thought about where you want to go after dinner?" Aang asked.

"Not really," Katara said. "Is there any place that you would like to go to specifically?"

"I'll go where ever you want to go," Aang said with a smile.

Katara sighed, "You're too sweet."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," Aang said.

"Sometimes it can be a little... Annoying," Katara admitted.

Aang was puzzled. _How was being nice annoying?_ He thought. He was a bit taken aback. He really didn't want to have an argument on their first night of freedom in a while.

"How is that annoying?" Aang scoffted, shocked, but a faint hint of humor was thrown in.

Katara honestly didn't know how to explain it. When he would be too nice, it just set her over the edge sometimes. Sometimes she wouldn't find it flattering like she usually would.

"I guess sometimes you over-do it." Katara said.

Aang looked up at her, one eyebrow raised, trying to figure her out.

"Ugh, never mind," Katara said, exasperated.

Katara still had an annoyed, ticked-off look on her face that Aang strangely found adorable. He began to laugh. Katara looked up with an accusing glare.

"What's so funny?" She asked, still annoyed.

"You're cute when you're mad," He teased with a smile.

Katara scoffed in disgust, and rolled her eyes, "Stop."

Aang sneaked a kiss on the cheek then quickly scooted back to the spot where he was before. Katara couldn't help the light blush that rushed to her cheeks.

Then, their waiter came over with the wine and two empty glasses. He put them down on the table, then grabbed the wine and poured it into the first glass. He was just about to pour the second glass until he jumped from the sound of a high pitched scream, spilling it all over the white table cloth.

"Oh my goodness!" He shrieked, "I am so sorry. It's just- that noise- it scared me half to death."

"Oh it's no problem!" Aang said, waterbending the wine stain back into liquid form.

The waiter glanced from side to side frantically, "Yeah sorry, we're not allowed to bend in here. Boss is strictly against it for some reason. I wont tell though."

"Your secret is safe with me," Aang said with a chuckle.

Suddenly, half the restaurant was screaming too. Some people were even trying to run out the door, but others were just jumping out of their seats. Katara stood up to see what was happening. There was a circle a people who were screaming and rashly acting out.

"He's coughing up blood!"

"He's foaming from the mouth!"

Katara was already running over to the man. She cleared everyone away, and immediately asking the man, who was just hanging onto his consciousness, questions like "Can you hear me?", "What did you eat?", "Are you staying with me?"

The man stopped twitching, and had lost all consciousness. Katara checked for a pulse, and felt nothing. Then put her ear over his nose, and watched his stomach to see any signs of breathing. Nothing.

"Someone call an ambulance!" A cry from the crowd yelled.

Someone had already called for one, since paramedics came rushing in the second after the person yelled that. They took over and did everything they could to try and revive him. They unfortunately did not succeed. They took the man out on a stretcher and put his body in a body bag. Before they left, one paramedic stopped Katara on her way back to the table.

"Did you come in contact with any of his bodily fluids?" The female paramedic asked.

"No, ma'am," Katara answered, "I just tried to save him before he slipped."

"Thank you, miss," the paramedic said before walking away.

Katara sat back down at her table, sighing with relief. Aang watched her as she chugged down her glass of wine.

"What happened?" Aang asked.

Katara shrugged, "I tried to save a man from death, failed, and I have no idea what caused it to happen."

Aang raised an eyebrow, "Are you okay? You just downed that in like one sip."

"I'm fine," Katara said, "I don't think we should eat here. We should get a health inspector in here for sure, and test all the people in here for anything."

Aang sighed, annoyed, "I'll call Toph."

Katara frowned, "I'm sorry, sweetie."

"For what?" Aang asked. "Once Toph gets here we can go somewhere else."

"Oh, okay," Katara said with a hopeful smile.

"Trust me, I'm not going to let this night; the only night we could get a sitter and have time together, go to waste," Aang said, stealing a passionate kiss on the lips.

* * *

Aang put in a request to have a health inspector check out the place as soon as possible. The health inspector would be there in three days, and until then, Toph had Kwong's Cuisine shut down. It only took a short five minutes to explain the situation to Toph, and to figure out a solution it took about another ten. Katara at the time had just stood off to the side, and while she was standing there she pictured the man still laying there at a nearby table. The table was next to a window, and was a couple seats down from the right side of the doors. Katara had her head bowed down and she was staring at her feet, trying to distract herself from the thoughts of the man.

After about 20 minutes, Aang had rejoined her by her side. He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to his side.

"Everything okay, sweetie?" Aang asked, kissing her on the cheek.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about what happened with that guy," Katara said, "and I've been trying to figure out how this all happened."

Aang pulled her closer into his embrace, where she felt protected and safe. Katara turned around and wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him tight.

"The coroner is going to examine him, and take him to the morgue. They'll take care of the situation there, and once they find everything out they'll give us the information," Aang said.

Katara rested her head on his shoulder, "You're right."

He kissed her on the top of her head, "So what do you say we finish our date."

"I'll take you up on that, Avatar," Katara said, and together they left the restaurant.

* * *

It was a rare morning where Aang had not been called into work. There was surprisingly no new court updates, no new court date for that day, no meeting, etc. Aang could spend a nice morning with his small family and just feel somewhat relaxed. Aang got to serve and feed his two year old son and his wife breakfast for the first time in what seemed like forever. Katara got to sit back and relax while Aang took over the kitchen. Bumi would get a little fussy if he didn't get his parents attention. He'd stand up out of his booster seat and climb into Katara's lap. And of course, Katara would let him. She'd play with him by bouncing him in her lap.

Aang had served them pancakes, and even though he was a vegetarian he served them bacon. He figured since they both loved it, he'd be generous and give them some. As long as he didn't have to eat it he was fine.

He sat down with them and buttered his pancakes before drowning them in syrup. Katara helped Bumi with his plate, then sat him back in his booster seat next to Aang, where he ate them all on his own.

"I'm honestly surprised they haven't called you into work yet," Katara commented.

Aang had a mouthful of pancakes, so all he could do was nod. For some reason, Bumi found this hysterical, and he burst out into a fit of giggles and laughter. Katara and Aang found this to be adorable, even though Bumi had chunks of pancake flying out of his mouth.

"Bumi, finish chewing," Katara said, trying not to be too stern.

Once Bumi got the chance to calm down he obeyed. Aang gently patted his son on the head then gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then, there was the familiar ring of the telephone from Aang's office, followed by the Avatar letting out a very annoyed and over exaggerated groan.

"I think I know who's that for," Katara said, with a sigh.

Aang gave her a look of sorrow, and apologized.

"I know, it's not your fault," She said, twirling her fork in the few left over pieces of pancake.

Aang rushed into his office to pick up the phone.

"So now it's just you and me, Bud," Katara said.

"No daddy?" Bumi asked.

"Sorry little man, daddy has to go to work," Katara said.

"Awww," The boy sulked.

"I know," Katara sympathized. "Finish your breakfast and we can go say goodbye to him."

Bumi then scarfed down the remaining chunks of his pancake, and gulped down the milk from his sippy-cup. Katara stared blankly into space, hoping that Aang still had a couple of minutes to finish his food together with them. Then, she couldn't help but think of the future, and how this would affect them when they'd have more kids around the house. She knew it was going to happen, since they'd found out that Bumi was a non-bender when he was born.

"I have to run," Aang said, "it's another death. Same thing happened with the blood and foaming at the mouth."

Katara gasped and put a hand at her mouth to stop her from screaming, "Another one? So is this some sort of contagion?"

"We haven't gotten the autopsy report back yet," Aang said, kissing Katara on the cheek, then the head. He walked over to Bumi and kissed him on the head.

"But they sounded really panicked and annoyed on the phone. I don't know why they want me, but they think since I'm the _Avatar_ I can just solve this with the snap of a finger I guess. If anything, _you_ should be out there instead of me."

Katara kind of shrugged off his snarky comments, "Just- Please stay healthy." She stood up to give him a hug and a kiss on the lips.

Bumi then stood up and leaped into his father's arms.

"Why you have to go?" He asked.

"I'm sorry buddy, it's work." Aang said, hugging him.

"But I don't want you to go," Bumi cried.

"I know kiddo," Aang said. "Trust me, I don't want to go either."

Aang put Bumi down back into his seat. He waved to them, and headed out the door. When Bumi heard the door shut, he immediately burst into tears. Katara did her best to calm him down, but at the same time she just wanted to break down into tears and cry too. Aang was right; why wasn't she out there? After all, she's the best healer in the world.

* * *

Two weeks had gone by, and the city had about thirty more cases. Whatever this was, it was highly contagious, and it was spreading fast. The public found out, which only led to panic. The city was in quarantine; no one could get in or out. Shops closed down, most citizens rampaged the market and no one besides the homeless were roaming the streets. Everyone was staying in home, huddled around radios and waiting for important phone calls. Only very few people were still at work.

And Aang happened to be one of those people still at work. The council finally agreed to have Katara in their meetings. Katara would leave Bumi in the hands of the acolytes, and feel terribly guilty. They didn't sign up to babysit when they became acolytes, and she'd spend half the time in the meetings thinking of ways to make it up to them.

She sat beside Aang at the main desk in the court room. There were guards outside the court room doors; but that was just protocol. They had every possible entrance locked up since the meeting was entirely confidential. In the courtroom, sat a representation of each nation. From left to right sat Kaito from the Northern Water tribe, Haruto from the firenation, Ela from the Earth Kingdom, Sokka, Aang, then Katara.

"We've been in touch with the Biology and Other Sciences Unit. They've been working hard to find a cure for this disease. They also found a name for this, and so refer to it as I-16. I'm not sure what the name means, but we're waiting to release a name to the public," Sokka announced.

"So this means the medical assistants around the city can't necessarily "heal" the patients until we get a vaccine or cure?" Katara asked.

"Sadly... Yes," Sokka responded. "But the scientists get closer and closer to figuring out what exactly this disease is, and whether or not it's curable."

Everyone in the room fell silent, and exchanged glances at each other.

"So any further questions?" Sokka asked.

The silence in the room answered that question.

"How would you all like it if I treated you to some noodles at Narook's Seaweed Noodlery?" Sokka suggested.

The small group of people perked up and all nodded their head excitedly. Haruto, the firenation representative, however stood up and told Sokka that he had to go home to his wife and daughter. Sokka understood, and told him it was okay and to stay healthy.

* * *

When they arrived at the small restaurant, they were surprised to see no one else there. Despite the size of the place, it was very popular, and very successful financially. There were only two workers there, making Katara feel guilty about walking in with a group of people. But she couldn't help but smile as she observed the walls of the restaurant. The interior of the restaurant was heavily decorated with authentic Water Tribe relics, art, and tapestry, though it maintained some modern touches alongside some traditional ones.

The group of council members and Katara gathered along the counters to order. Aang, realized that the only thing he could order was seaweed noodles, due to him being a vegetarian. He ordered it with a small cup of water and waited for the rest of them to order. He cringed when he saw Katara come back with a bowl of seaprune stew. Katara laughed at his reaction, shrugged it off, and together they found a near by table for the five of them.

When everyone came back, instead of talking about the contagion and possibly being overheard by the two workers, they decided to just talk about some of their personal lives. Katara just talked a little about Bumi, and then about how annoying the press was towards him. Aang added that most of the times he'd have to storm into the editor's office himself and demand them to not be such a bother to him and his family. The other council members found that to be quite amusing, since they receive the same kind of attitude from the papers and other press related stuff also.

"It's not as bad for me as it is for my daughter," Ela, the Earth Kingdom representative shared.

"Eek," Katara winced. "That's right cause she's a probender, right?"

Ela nodded, "Yep. I feel so bad for her all the time. She's only six-teen, she shouldn't have to deal with it. It's bad enough that all of us here have to deal with it."

The group nodded in agreement.

"And she's our only daughter, too."

"It's so bad when I'm actually here in the city," Kaito then shared his story. "I'm usually back home up in the northern tribe with my family. But when I'm here on emergency meetings and such, it's a pain."

"Oh I was wondering which tribe you were from!" Katara said, "I always love it when we visit. I'll never forget how amazing it was when we first visited."

"I return every other week and each time I return I feel like the place just gets bigger and bigger," Kaito said with a laugh.

The group shared a round of laughter. Then Aang added, "That's what I thought the last time I was there, a couple of years ago."

They continued to laugh, but it was more soft. Eventually, the laughter died down, and it was silence while everyone finished their food.

Ela was just about to share a new story, when she was interrupted by rounds of screams coming from the kitchen, followed by the sounds of pants and stirring instruments hitting the floor. The group shot up from their seats and rushed over to the counter to see if everything was okay.

"Is everything all right?" Aang called from behind the counter. The kitchen doors were shut, and both employees were in there. Then, the one female employee came running out, flailing her arms.

"He just collapsed!" She cried, "I don't know what happened! He coughed, there was blood, and then he just fell over!"

A paralyzing chill ran down Katara's spine, and she was sure the rest of the group was feeling the same burdening, terrifying, feeling, or at least something similar. Behind Katara and Aang, the council members exchanged the same panicked, and worried looks, as they all knew exactly what was going on. And each of their stomachs churned, thinking about how someone who was infected, and had just died, served each of them their food, that each and everyone had just finished.

* * *

** I hoped you liked this! I really like sci-fi related topics with virusy type of scenarios, and figured it'd be really fun to write one! The information on Narooks Seaweed Noodlery came straight from avatar wikia, and I just spun around the information, changing it around into my own words. This fic definitely be one of my main focuses until further notice! Please review, telling me what you thought. **

**Any suggestions for a one shot? Shoot me a private message letting me know.**


	2. Contagion

**2\. Contagion**

* * *

The Biology and Other Sciences Unit didn't exactly have a vaccine, but they were able to contain the disease. People could get the care they needed to prevent themselves from getting the disease. Those who were sick got the care they needed to help fight the disease. The quarantine was going so well, and they had clinics to help the sick at the end of almost every block in the city. Katara, Aang, and Sokka tested since the incident at the Noodlery place. Luckily, the three of them tested negative. They didn't know about the rest of the council though.

A couple of the stores were beginning to reopen now, since they felt the disease/virus was being contained. People could start going back to work, and earning money. The beginning of the depression in the city was already clearing up. The thing is though, the citizens were so eager for new positive information. They didn't know that the vaccine was just a rumor from the press. Aang had read the articles about this "vaccine" in the Republic City Times. Though, he knew they were fake. He knew that the disease was finally somewhat contained, but not cured.

"We have to control the press," Aang said, pacing around their master bedroom in the morning, after he read the paper.

Katara was sitting on the corner of their bed, still in her pajamas. She wasn't nearly worked up as her husband, but she understood his frustration. She folded her arms across her just and sighed.

"I don't know what to say, Aang."

His jaw tightened as he absorbed her words. He continued to pace, getting angrier by the second. In times like this, Katara would usually help him calm down, but she just sat there.

"You don't have to say anything," He eventually spoke.

"Don't get all worked up about it," Katara said, standing up to face him, "you can talk to them later and solve it."

Aang stopped in his steps and sighed, "I can't. If I tell them to get rid of the article, the public will find out it was false, and they'll freak out again. And _that_ will result in the economy falling... _again!_"

"Yes, but while that article is up, people will start to get impatient and they will start rioting," Katara argued.

"See, this is exactly why this is so frustrating!" Aang yelled, his hands rubbing his temples.

Katara walked over to him and wrapped her arms around in him. He embraced her with one arm, while he was still rubbing his face with the other hand. He inhaled the scent of Katara's hair, immediately relaxing to his senses. He always loved the smell of her passion fruit shampoo. He relaxed in the embrace, and nearly melted into her.

"Thanks, sweetie," he said, planting a kiss on her forehead.

She untangled herself from the hug and reassured him with a smile.

"I'm gonna go check on Bumi," She said before leaving the room.

* * *

That day, Aang went into work half an hour before noon for a meeting. Everyone was present, except for Ela. When everyone got situated, they then realized that she was the only one missing.

"Where's Ela?" Aang asked.

Everyone stared at each other for answers.

"She called me to tell you all that she's come down with something and couldn't make it today," Haruto, the firenation representative, said.

Aang watched as everybody's face turned ghostly pale.

"I don't think it's the disease..." He continued, "It just sounded like some ordinary cold. She said she was going to get tested today around noon or somethin'."

Aang gently gnawed at the inside of his cheek, deciding whether or not he should bring up the press thing right away. He was waiting for Sokka to bring up a topic, and hoped it would gradually lead into the press. His train of thought was interrupted when the court room's doors burst open. Toph and two of her main guards walked down the entrance. Aang stood up immediately. He studied the stern expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Aang asked.

"They're rioting," Toph said, the anger in her voice cut like razor blades.

Aang made an inhuman sound as he internally groaned. He knew it was going to happen one way or another.

"You've got to get the press to take down that article, Aang," Toph ordered. "I know you don't get along well, but now I have a problem on my plate."

Aang clenched his hands into fists, but it wasn't noticeable. Toph felt his heart rate pick up, and she took a step back.

"I'm going to deal with the riots, you deal with the press," She demanded. "I don't care how angry you get, you're gonna do it."

His jaw tightened. His lips were drawn into a thin line.

"Come on Aang, you got this," Toph said, trying to coax him into calming down.

He sighed, an the tension on his shoulders dropped. He stepped down from the meeting and walked out, bowing down to Toph on the way out.

The editorial's building post wasn't too far from City Hall. He flew to it on his glider and got there under three minutes. He tried to not march angrily when he entered the building. He didn't even have to talk to anyone, he was able to walk up to the head of the press' desk.

"Take down your article about the vaccine," Aang said, his blood was boiling with anger. His tone was sharp and demanding.

The head of the press was a flimsy middle-aged man. His hair was always unkempt, his glasses always falling down the bumpy bridge of his nose. He had a hunch in his back. His voice was grossly high-pitched and nasally. He smiled, showing a row of crooked yellow teeth.

"What's your problem, Avatar?" He asked.

"I'm demanding you take down that article you and your company wrote about the 'vaccine.' I need you to know that there is no such thing, they're just finally getting a lid on this. This discussion is private. Don't go posting this in there either, or I will have the Republic City Times demolished." He ordered, in what seemed like under one breath, "Do I make myself clear, Ollie?"

"Certainly," he snorted.

"Good," Aang said with an edge to his voice.

Aang made a harsh turn on his heel. Doing so, he made sure he blasted a small gust of air, knocking off the towering stacks of papers on Ollie's desk. Then, he continued to angry storm out of the building.

* * *

Aang arrived home at nightfall. It was about 9:30pm when he got home. He was relieved to see the flickering lights of candles coming from his bedroom in the hall. He was practically running into their bedroom. He was so happy to finally be home, so he could fly into bed and cuddle up with his loving wife. When he came in, she was sitting on her side of the bed, looking over a medical file.

"Hey beautiful," He greeted her with a heart-warming smile.

"Hey, look who's finally home!" Her tone was shining with happiness.

He crawled onto the bed and embraced her into a tight hug. He felt at home, inhaling the same passion-fruit scent of her shampoo. He smiled, and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"I missed you," He whispered into her ear. "I had such a shit day."

Katara was nearly taken aback by his wording choice. She knew Aang, and only one other time had he heard him swear in anger. She pulled out from the embrace and waited for him to go on.

"I had to deal with the press," He sighed, positioning himself next to her and flopping onto his back.

"How'd that go?" She asked.

He shrugged. He gave her the more "simple" story. He didn't add that he nearly blew that building down, or that he was really eager to. She understood his frustration, and comforted him with a kiss on the cheek.

He smiled up at her. He loved moments like these, where he could just lay back and relax with his wife in the comfort of his own home. Moments like these made stressful days bearable. For Aang, it fueled him; kept him on his feet and kept him going.

Katara rolled over and cuddled up to his side. She tossed the medical file on the floor next to the bed. She threw her one arm over his body, and closed her eyes.

"Going to sleep already?" He asked.

"Nah, just resting my eyes," She muttered.

Aang put an arm around her, and shifted so he could rest his chin on the top of her head.

"What was in that file anyway?"

Katara sighed, "Nothing good. Just an over view of who's got the disease, and who died."

Aang carefully moved Katara off of him and sat up. He scooted off the bed and picked up the file from the floor. Katara sat up and questioned him, but he didn't answer. He just read over the case, reading the names of who had been infected with the disease.

"We were tested," Aang said, "but we didn't hear about the rest of the council."

Katara gasped. Her stomach dropped to her feet; she was expecting something bad.

Aang read the names of who'm were diagnosed.

_Lee, Siku, Kailam, Kilout, Suku, Kaito, Anju, Ela, Jigme, Ketu, _and many more.

He couldn't help but gasp when his eyes skimmed over the name Ela.

"This is bad," He said to himself.

* * *

**Kinda lame, but leave a review and tell me what you think! And I'd like to add that I'm REALLY sorry I haven't posted in a while. School's been hectic... BUT, it' May now, and I've only got one month left. And usually, we don't do that much work, so I'll have less homework and more time to post. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Intrusion

**3 -Intrusion (_Mostly_ takes place as the same time in Chapter 2, just back story)**

* * *

There was a decent-sized apartment complex in the north of the city. It belonged to a family of three; two middle-aged parents, and one sixteen year old daughter. They were a happy, typical family. Though, one was involved in politics, and the daughter was a probender, they survived the press, and managed to get by.

Anju was the name. She was studying for history, for a test she had to take the next day in school. She was having trouble concentrating due to the sound of ruckus coming from the bathroom down the hall. She tried to tune it out, but she couldn't once she heard the sound of a high-pitched blood curdling scream. She ran to the bathroom to see what was going on.

"Mom?" She screamed.

Her mother, Ela, Earth Kingdom representative for the Council, was on the ground, glass everywhere, coughing up blood. She saw her daughter standing in the doorway, and held her hand up.

"Don't come in here!" She sputtered, blood dripping from each word.

"What happened, Mom?" Tears rolled down the teenager's face.

"Get your dad and stay away!" Ela screamed.

Anju ran around the apartment, frantically looking for her father. She panicked, realizing he wasn't home yet. She reached for the phone in the lounge, and dialed the emergency number. She called for an ambulance and a decontamination of their apartment. She ran back to her mother.

Ela was on the ground, twitching and continuing to cough up her blood. Anju told her how her father wasn't home and so she had to call for a medical emergency.

"You're a smart girl, Anju," Ela said, her voice hoarse from all of the coughing, "I love you, and I'm so proud of you."

Anju began to cry.

"Don't cry," Ela said, "I'll be just fine."

Unfortunately, both of them knew that was not true. By that time, the medical emergency team was up in their apartment, taking away Ela on a stretcher. A medical assistant took Anju by the arm, and leaded her to the front door.

"What are you doing?" Anju questioned, trying to get out of the medical assistant's grip, "Let go of me!"

"Ma'am," The medical examiner said, "You need to understand that this is protocol. We have to take out anyone who has had possible contact to the disease."

"Disease?" Anju asked, "What disease?"

"The disease requiring the entire city to be quarantined, ma'am," he said, "It's protocol, and the building will need to be evacuated for decontamination."

"Wait," Anju said, "The whole building?"

The medical assistant nodded, "Now, I have to take you in a separate ambulance. Someone else will come by and deal with the decontamination process."

Somehow, Anju managed control herself externally, but inside she felt as if her heart was getting pulled in millions of different directions.

* * *

_5 hours later_

The Avatar was enjoying a peaceful night off from work with his wife. After drying off from a nice, hot shower with his wife, he pulled on a clean pair of trousers and crawled into bed. Katara put on her undergarments, a big T-shirt, and joined him. She laid beside him, cuddling to his side.

"Tired?" Aang asked, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

"Kinda," She said with a yawn.

"I'll take that as a yes," He said with a laugh.

She turned onto her opposite side, pulled the covers up to her shoulders, and closed her eyes. She was just about to drift into a sound slumber, when there was a pounding knock on the door.

"Who the hell?" Katara grunted.

"It's Toph," Aang said, standing up. Since he was barefoot, he was able to check through seismic waves.

He left the room and walked to the front door to let Toph in. When he opened the door, he held it open for a minute, waiting for Toph to come in.

"I hope you're not dumb enough to realize that I _personally_ wouldn't come to your house at _midnight_ to just casually walk on in and sit down and have a casual conversation, Aang," Toph said, glaring at him.

Her voice was sharp and quick. She hardly ever called him by his actual name. Whatever it was, Aang knew it was bad. His heart rate went up a little, and his face went completely white; he was panic stricken. He tried to relax his face.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Ela and her daughter were admitted to the hospital today," Toph said, "They both have the disease."

Aang needed to sit down. He began to feel unbalanced, and wobbled around in his stance. Toph reached out to try and hold him still, but by then he fell to the ground. Toph caught his arms, making the fall not as harsh.

Katara heard the crash and came running to the front door. She saw her husband unconscious in Toph's arms.

"What happened?" She asked, wide-eyed and panicked at the sight of her husband.

"I told him one of our co-workers and their daughter got infected and he just like, fainted!" Toph said.

"Wow," Katara said, crossing her arms, "He hasn't done that since Bumi was born."

Toph couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright, I'll help you carry him into our bedroom," Katara said.

* * *

The loud clacking pattern of high-heals on concrete could have woken up the entire city, or so the woman thought. She tried to be subtle and quiet. She was going to meet her client, who had secret identities and top secret cases to give to. She arrived at the cafe, which was closed for the night, with caution. Since it was the middle of the night, most of the street lights were out, and no one else was out except for a few cars driving by here and there. She sat down at a table, where her client was waiting for her. She handed her client the manila envelope.

The client, an ordinary male you'd find in the Earth Kingdom, wore a medical mask and leather gloves. Along with that, he had a long black petticoat, black pants, and a suitcase of other belongings. He coughed, and a small dribble of blood leaked down his lip. With the smallest flick of his tongue, he licked it up, and thanked his agent.

"Here are your passports, ID's, and those documents you asked for," The woman said. Her voice was naturally low and had a husky tone. She spoke quietly, avoiding to be overheard. "You know how to contact me if you need anything else. I have a supply of vaccines, cures, and other medical treatments waiting for you in the hut. A former coworker of mine will be waiting for you there. Good luck, we're counting on you."

The man nodded, got up, and walked away into the darkness.

* * *

Because no Avatar can deal with a conflict without throwing a bad guy in there.


	4. Proliferation

**Chapter 4 - P****roliferation**

* * *

It was early in the morning. Aang sat at the dining table across from his wife with a ice pack on his head. He'd been feeling loopy and his head ached from his fall the previous night.

"My head ache grows the more I think about what we're going to do in the council," Aang said.

"Well maybe you should dismiss the council until this quarantine thing rolls out," Katara suggested.

Aang rubbed the sides on his head with his fingers, attempting to soothe his head ache that was turning into a migraine.

"Katara, that would be a terrible idea," Aang sighed. "The council is keeping this city together! We keep order!"

"So do the police!" Katara argued, "With the police still around there would be no problem if you _temporarily_ dismiss the council."

"Yes there would," Aang argued, "There's still court cases, there's still problems despite the Quarantine. I think we'll have to close down shops again."

Katara bit her lip, trying to think of a better decision than what Aang had said. She was confident about her first thought, but it gave her second thoughts after Aang shut her down. She also thought closing down the shops was a bad idea.

"You're down 1 person on the council, I really think you should just dismiss it temporarily," Katara said.

"I already said I think that's a terrible idea," Aang argued.

"So is closing down the shops down the shops," Katara argued back.

Aang raised an eyebrow. He could tell where this was going to go; another endless argument. Katara was also getting sassy, which usually would end on one of them just walking out on the argument.

"There's still other issues the council has to deal with," Aang continued, "Which is why I can't just 'dismiss the council.'" He did the quotations with his fingers in the air.

"So what you're saying is that you'd rather deal with some lousy court cases than dismiss the council for the sake of the population of the entire city?" Katara asked.

It took a minute for Aang to respond. When she mentioned population he immediately thought about the genocide of his people. He apparently muttered something under his breath and wouldn't have realized if Katara didn't call him out on it.

"You're right," Aang said, "If I dismiss the council, I can help save the city."

Katara nodded. He sighed and bowed his head. He just thought about everything he had to deal with right now. He was unsure of his position as the Avatar in this case. Dismissing the council, quarentining the city, and possibly closing down the shops was the only useful parts applied to his role. He was no scientist, no healer.

Katara reached across the table and grabbed his hand. She could tell that he was having trouble with whatever he was thinking of, and just the situation in general. He looked up at her and smiled, though he still looked a little hopeless. She smiled and stroked the back of his hand. He brought her hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss upon the top of her hand. He placed her hand back on the table and interlaced his fingers with hers.

"I guess I have a phone call to make," Aang said with a grin.

Katara smiled and nodded.

* * *

Aang called Sokka from the phone in his office. He gave a brief explanation of his plans, with suitable reasoning. Sokka was understanding and was all for it. They chatted on the phone for a little.

"Would be funny to call a meeting just to dismiss the council, wouldn't it?" Sokka requested, jokingly.

"Pft, yeah," Aang said sarcastically.

Sokka laughed. Aang let out a short chuckle.

"Well, I'm gonna go," Aang said, "Unless you have anything else you want to talk about."

"Nah, I'll catch-ya later, brother," Sokka said.

"See ya."

Aang hung up the phone. He got up from his office chair, but didn't move. His eyes were fixed upon the medical file that somehow managed to wander upon the top of the stack of papers on his desk. He opened the folder again, and scanned through it. Once he got to the names again, he read them continuously. He realized that Anju, Ela's daughter was also on the list. He groaned at the thought; that poor family.

Then he gasped when he read over the list of names again. How could he miss it? Kaito was on the list; the Northern Watertribe representative for the council. He shook his head and closed the file. He rushed out of his office and found Katara in the kitchen brewing herself a cup of tea. He sighed, releasing some of the tension in his shoulders.

Katara was adding a little bit of sugar to her tea. Then she spun around and began to walk back to the table when she saw Aang unexpectedly behind her. She let out a little scream, then laughed at herself.

"You scared me!" She screeched through giggles. She playfully smacked him on the arm.

Aang found himself laughing, "Someone's on edge."

She shook her head, still laughing. She found her seat at the table, and started drinking her tea. There was a few minutes of silence, before Aang broke it.

"Good call," Aang said, "Dismissing the council."

Katara smiled and nodded.

"Though, I don't know if it would've made more of a difference if I disbanded or dismissed them," Aang said.

Katara raised an eyebrow in suspicion, "Why's that?"

"Kaito's been diagnosed with the disease," Aang said.

Katara nearly spit the mouthful of tea she was about to swallow, resulting in her making a weird choking sound. She eventually swallowed it, ending in a fit of coughs. When she caught her breath, she looked at Aang with shock and disbelief.

Aang chuckled, "You okay?"

She nodded. "I can't believe he's got it too."

Aang sighed and bowed his head shamefully, "I know."

"It's almost like it's too dangerous to walk outside," Katara said, glancing out the window. She looked out the window that hung above the sink. She watched as the calm waves of Yue Bay crashed gently onto the shores of Air Temple Island. Katara couldn't think of a time in her life that she was happy to be on an island, far away from a vast population of people, or sick people for that matter.

She never felt isolated on the island. She loved the nomadic culture, and being far away from the noisy city but also being considered part of it was just fine. Along with air nomad culture, there was also a little watertribe culture mixed in. Aang did it all for Katara; after all he did build the entire temple. And it was nice having the air acolytes around, helping, and just their peaceful presence. Katara felt at home here.

Aang was going to say something, but he got too caught up in watching her look out the window. He thought she looked both adorable and gorgeous in deep thought. He could only wonder what was going on in her head. Aang completely admired Katara; every little thing about her. Her looks, her personality, her character, the way she loved him, he could list thousands of things.

Katara snapped out of her daze and looked back at Aang, who was in pure awe over her. She smiled at him, and he didn't seem to notice. She waved her hand in his face.

"Earth to Aang," Katara said with a laugh.

He jumped and shook his head, "Huh, what?"

She laughed and shook her head. "You're such a little dork."

"Oh really?" Aang said, getting up and running over to her. He began to tickle her sides, resulting in her squealing in laughter, trying to dodge him. He picked her up directly out of the chair. She playfully punched at his chest and tried to wiggle out of his arms.

"I got you, you're mine now," Aang said playfully, carrying her into their bedroom.

* * *

Sneaking out of Republic City while it was on a grid locked quarantine was not an easy task. The sick man who ran away almost got caught by the authorities. He had one goal, and was already close to achieving it. He glanced behind him on the tall mountain beyond the city. The tall steel buildings, polluted clouds coming out of factory buildings, the sound of honking cars, was all in the distance.

The man was winded from his travels up the mountain. The disease did not do a good toll on his lungs. He found himself often stopping so he could hack up another mouthful of blood. He grabbed a sip of water before moving on.

He was headed toward a small village just outside the village where there was a medical hut stationed for him. It was full of supplies needed to be collected for a cure, or vaccine. He was guinea pig, and he was spreading the disease on his way. He was an evil, corrupt man. He didn't care much for the population. Quite frankly, he wanted to decrease it. He thought of his diagnosis being a gift from the spirits; now he could proceed on with his plans.

He wasn't a freak for world domination, he just wanted to rid most of the planet of humans. He just had a twisted way of doing so.

He launched himself off the mountain with his earthbending, making it a faster trip. He surprisingly had a safe landing, and was now miles closer to his destination.

* * *

**Sorry this is so late and it's pretty short! I'll update soon! **


	5. Outbreak

**Chapter 5 - Outbreak**

* * *

Gaipan was a small village located in the central region of the Earth Kingdom. It was right outside of Republic City. The escapee was headed to Gaipan, following orders. He arrived within the expected time; about a week.

"Greetings, traveler," the guards at the gate had said.

The man offered his hand to the guard to shake as a greeting. The guard shook his hand and waved for the man to enter. The village was a small enclosed area filled with small houses and huts that all looked exactly the same. The governor of the town lived straight ahead, in a bigger house. The man just turned left and went to the hut he was told to go into.

He went up to the door and knocked three times. He waited about a minute before a man in green and white robes answered. They exchanged a few glances before the man in the robes spoke.

"Greetings, traveler," He said with a bow.

"You have supplies for me," The man said quietly.

The second man nodded, "Come in, Kanan."

Kanan, the escapee, walked into the hut. There were 5 cots set up, and next to the cots were all kinds of machinery and medical boxes, marked with an emblem Kanan had never seen before. He studied the symbol closely, but still didn't recognize it.

"I'm not from the exact unit you're in, Kanan," The man spoke, "I work in the biology unit. I was lucky to leave Republic City before the outbreak got too bad. It's a shame that you caught it."

"Well I'm here to get cured," Kanan said, laying himself down on one of the cots.

Kanan took the water bottle out of his traveler's bag. Then he tossed the bag onto the floor and proceeded to drink.

"Cured?" The man asked, "I wouldn't be so sure. You're what they call the guinea pig."

Kanan sat up quickly. He threw his water bottle onto the ground and curled his hands into fists.

"I was told that I was getting cured!" He yelled, "Valeria told me that you had cures here at the medical inn! And on the way I was going to spread my sickness to as many people as possible."

The man in the robes nodded, "Ah, yes. She'll tell anyone anything to get them to do what she wants for her. I thought you knew that."

Kanan's jaw tightened as he gritted his teeth in anger. Not only was he lied to, but he was closer to death. His travels to the village took a lot of his energy, and the exposure sure didn't help either. He feared his plans wouldn't follow through.

* * *

**1 Week Later...**

The city had been on lock down for a month now. Almost all of the shops were closed down, and the Council would be dismissed until the disease was fully taken care of. This gave Aang full time with his wife and son back at home.

It was late in the evening, Katara and Aang were cleaning up dinner when the phone in Aang's office started ringing. Aang rushed off to go answer it, while Katara was taking care of the small mess on the table from dinner. Bumi was still in his high chair, screeching and wailing for attention. Katara was getting annoyed and impatient, and frustrated at Aang for running off to answer the phone.

She kept shushing Bumi, and when that didn't work she tried threatening to put him to bed early if he didn't stop. That didn't seem to scare him either, so he continued to scream. When Katara finally walked over to him, and he stopped to look up at her. Her hair was disheveled and messy, she wore an angry expression, and the way she looked down at Bumi just generally scared him. He began to cry, and wiggle around in his seat, wanting out.

Aang returned to the kitchen, and seemed a little frightened and nervous. Katara glared back to back at Aang and Bumi, which made the room go completely silent. Aang cautiously stepped a little closer to Katara.

"What did we do?" Aang asked, "What's that look for?"

Katara walked over to Aang, still silent and glaring at him. Her arms were folded across her chest, which was how Aang knew he did something wrong, and it wasn't just Bumi.

"Well now that you're home, I was really hoping you'd be more available," Katara said, "But I can see that you're still managing to be busy with what I'm assuming is the council, or some tie to it, from the way you ran out of the room to catch that phone call."

"That was Internal Affairs on the phone," Aang answered, his voice showing more anger as he went on, "And yes, I ran to the phone because it's my personal phone, which means its either Sokka, Zuko, Toph, or business calls. And with every thing happening right now in the city, I'm terrified of _what's_ going to happen to anybody. And I got that feeling the second I heard that phone ring, and I have every right to be terrified because somehow, despite the quarantine, the infection has spread outside the city!"

Katara's face went ghostly pale. Fear crippled throughout every bone in her body, and paralyzed her. She couldn't move, breathe, or really react at first. All she could do was take it, and let the information soak in. Aang watched as it happened, and was nearly in tears since he felt the same way.

"Oh no," Katara said in a panicked whisper, "What are we going to do now?"

And now that everything that Aang was trying to avoid happening happened, he truly felt lost. He fought to hold back the tears he wanted to shed, causing his chin to quiver. Katara noticed, and immediately pulled him into her arms. Aang didn't think this would happen, and he sure hoped it wouldn't. But now that it was, he was lost, because, really, what were they going to do now?

* * *

Kanan woke up the next morning in a cot. He sat up immediately, when he heard the groans, and sounds of vomiting around him. There were at least three people, other than him, in the room. He smiled, once he realized he had successfully spread the disease to other people. He looked around for the man that welcomed him into the hut, but he couldn't find him.

He got up, and left the hut to search for him. When he reached outside, he realized there were a bunch of people sitting, or laying, around the perimeter of the hut. They were all groaning, or coughing up blood. He began to run away, and instead of trying to find the strange man, who's name he didn't even know, he left, hoping to go to the next village, and spread the disease.

* * *

Sokka had visited Katara and Aang on the island. Bumi was very excited to see his uncle, but sadly he didn't end up seeing much of Sokka since Aang and Sokka had to discuss the new situation in private. Katara put Bumi down for a nap, then joined her brother and husband in the separate room. The room was small; there were two couches, a coffee table, a book shelf, and a small fireplace. Aang and Sokka sat on the corresponding couches, while Katara sat on the arm of the couch Aang was on. She leaned on him, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, her hand draping restlessly on his shoulder.

"Is it possible to have the whole nation set down in quarantine?" Sokka asked, "And each individual village, and city?"

"It's possible," Aang said, "But will take at least a whole week when it's completely successful. No one outside of politics knows about this. It's better if we keep the press and the citizens out of this."

"Yeah, good luck with that one," Katara said sarcastically. She patted his peck with the hand that was draping over his right shoulder. Aang twisted around to grab her hand. He pulled her a little closer, then captured her face with his hands. Their lips met, and they shared a long, romantic kiss.

"Ahem," Sokka said, making a sound similar to a man clearing his throat.

Katara and Aang separated from the kiss. Katara re-fixated herself on the arm of the couch, while Aang straightened up and wiped off his mouth.

"Sorry," Aang said, turning red in the face.

Sokka raised his eyebrows, and cleared his throat. "So.." He started again, "We've got a big problem to solve here, Aang. Stop smooching around with my sister and get serious."

Aang nodded in response. Katara jumped to her feet, observed the two men, and realized the distress on their faces. She gestured to the door, "You boys look like you could use a cup of tea."

"Uh, you mean men," Sokka corrected her.

Katara had already left the room, but she'd heard him. And Aang was sure she had a playful smirk on her face. When Aang was sure she was out of their hearing range, he began to break down.

Sokka ran to his side and wrapped an arm around him. He patted him on the back comfortingly. He rested his hand on Aang's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"Now, how long have you been waiting to do that?" Sokka asked.

Aang wiped his tears away with his sleeve, "Too long." He sniffled. "Honestly, I'm terrified Sokka."

"I know, buddy," Sokka said, patting his back, "We all are."

Aang sat up, and turned to Sokka, "I don't mean to sound mellow-dramatic but, my state is a lot worse than yours."

Sokka nodded, "Of course it is. It always has been, Aang."

Aang wiped away his tears again, and sniffled. He released the tension in his shoulders and sighed. Aang did something that would come off as strange to Sokka. Aang turned to his side and gave Sokka a big, tight hug. It looked like the kind of hugs he'd give Katara sometimes. It was almost romanticized, or Sokka felt as if it was.

Sokka froze up a little at first, but then he remembered his current emotional state, and hugged the Avatar back. When they released from the hug, Sokka smiled awkwardly, and patted Aang on the back again. Then he moved back to his seat, and by then Katara was back. She struggled a little bit with the door, as she had a pan that had a pot of tea and 3 glass cups on it. When she walked in, she set it down on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa next to Aang.

They each took a minute to pour their tea. Katara waterbended her tea from the pot into the cup. She slouched back into the sofa and began sipping away.

"So, what did I miss?" Katara asked, after a delicate sip of tea.

Aang and Sokka exchanged a glance, in which Katara caught. She gave them a suspicious look before taking another sip of her tea. She looked at them, waiting for them to say something.

"Nothing really," Sokka finally said, "We're still confused about this whole quarantine thing."

Aang dropped his face into his hands. He rubbed the sides of his head. He shook his head multiple times, before slowly standing up. His eyes were closed, his brows furrowed in anger. When he opened his eyes, they were wide and dark. The distress and anger clearly written all over his face. He threw his hands out into the air, and nearly exploded.

"I mean, why is this any of my problem?" He screamed, "I'm the Avatar! I don't have anything to do with science. Who do they think I am?"

Katara and Sokka looked up at him with fear.

"I mean seriously!" Aang yelled again, his voice just getting angrier and louder, "I can't handle this! This outbreak is not my fault. Why are people turning to _me_? How can I solve something like _this?_"

Katara grasped her cup of tea in both of her hands. She dropped her head down a little and muttered, "Because people look up to you."

Aang paused his outrage, and looked down at her, "What?"

Katara looked at him, stared him in the eye, with a serious look she stated sternly, "They look up to you. You're the higher power. You're their ray of hope."

"Maybe I can usually solve all of the world's problems," Aang said, "But this time I really can't. I'm not just giving up on everyone, there's just no way I can help in this department. I tried with the quarantine, and the disease still managed to get out."

The three of them sat in silence for a few moments. Katara stared blankly down at her now half-empty cup of tea. Sokka was rubbing his chin, and he looked deep in thought. Aang was still trying to calm down, and avoid his head blowing off his neck. Sokka rested his chin on his hand and leaned forward. He drummed the fingers of his other hand on the coffee table.

Katara looked around, waiting for someone to break the silence.

Sokka sat up in a quick movement that made Katara jump. Sokka drew in a sharp, quick breath, and began talking.

"The quarantine was definitely effective," He started, "It was going perfectly. Everything was in order. Everyone stayed in their homes, and if not, they were at work. What I think is that someone sneaked out of the city on purpose. I mean, we can never solve a problem without _someone_ getting in the way, right? That's just our luck."

Aang nodded, and Katara just followed along with what he was saying.

"None of this is your fault," Sokka said, directly to Aang. "I know what we need to do now."

* * *

The police head quarters were swarmed, due to the fact that they were the only source of order in the city after the council was temporarily dismissed. Toph was swamped with everything, and barely had any time to herself. She was running around like a mad-woman. What bothered her the most was that people were trying to report incidents that weren't even considered crimes in Republic City. She angrily tapped her foot on the ground when a manager from one of the city's restaurants tried to file a complaint when one of their workers received a tip that was dunked in a cup of water left on the table. Toph was about to kick the man out of the police head quarters herself. Then, she remembered she was the chief of police. She shouldn't be the only one having to run around like a maniac, doing everything on her own. She got extra officers, and office workers to deal with the people who were just walking in with complaints.

Toph was finally able to sit back, and relax in her office for the first time in her whole 12 hour day shift. She'd kicked back her feet onto the desk, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes. Just when she was about to fall asleep, there was a pounding knock on her office door. Already annoyed and over-stressed, her first reaction was to be grumpy and yell.

"What _now?_" She ordered. "If you can't handle stupid, useless, little complaints, I'm going to have you fired."

Aang and Sokka walked into the office, holding back their laughter. They realized they could sneak up on her when they saw her legs resting on the top of her desk. The secretary just slowly slithered back after letting the two men in.

"Hey, who said you could come in?" Toph yelled.

Sokka pretended to sound insulted, "Why the sour-puss, chief?

"What are you doing here, knuckle head?" Toph seemed to be relieved when she realized it was just Sokka. She kept her feet up on the desk, her eyes closed, and her hands laid on her lap restlessly. She couldn't tell Aang was in the room, too.

"We have something we need to discuss with you," Sokka said, taking the seat across from hers.

"We?" Toph asked, "I'm guessing twinkle toes is in here, too?"

Aang walked over and took the seat beside Sokka. Toph didn't hear or "see" him, so she was still waiting for Sokka to answer.

The silence only made Sokka laugh. Toph got angry, and re-positioned herself so she could see. She sighed and rolled her eyes when she felt Aang sitting beside Sokka. She got up and walked over to the door. She pulled the blinds down, and locked the door. When she went back over to her desk, she plopped into the seat, groaning. She slouched in her seat, and crossed her arms.

"What is it, you two?" She asked, annoyed.

Sokka wasn't sure if she was actually annoyed, or if she was being playful. He just assumed both. He shrugged off the thought and went on talking.

"We actually have a serious issue," Sokka said.

"Get on with it," Toph demanded.

"The disease has come to a full outbreak," Sokka said, "I think someone purposely sneaked out of the city with the intention to spread it to the rest of the continent."

Toph let out an inhumane sound. It sounded like a combination of a banshee's scream, and a groan. She over-exaggerated it, which made it even more terrifying. She dropped her head onto her desk.

"We need to put the whole continent on quarantine," Aang said, "As of right now, that's the only solution. You and I are the only ones who can declare it."

Toph sat up, "I'll do whatever I can to help you guys... And to get out of this awful place."

Aang and Sokka laughed.

"Once the whole continent is quarantined, the Biology and Other Sciences Unit can finally take their time to finalize a cure," Aang said, getting serious after laughing.

Toph sat up straight and nodded.

Surely, the group of friends could be silly here and there. But, when work needed to be done, they got it done. They got serious, and began to solve the problem. Toph sat up, and waved a hand motioning for the two men to follow. She unlocked her door, and left the room. She walked over to the secretary's desk. She rested her arms on the top of the tall desk, and waited for the lady to look up.

"Yes, chief?" The secretary asked.

"Get officer Long to cover me," Toph ordered, "I have a public announcement that needs to be addressed, urgently."

The secretary nodded, "As you wish, ma'am."

* * *

**And here's where I met my writer's block. I have nothing else to write for now. I want to work on other stuff. I also did not edit this, so if I messed up please tell me via review. It's late, i'm tired, and I needed to get this up for you guys :)**


	6. Just Breathe

**6\. Just Breathe**

**Let me just mention that this chapter is _rated M!_**

**TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions/actions of rape. IF YOU THINK YOU WILL BE UNCOMFORTABLE READING THIS CONTENT, PLEASE GO BACK NOW.**

**Profanity warning.**

* * *

The press conference was set up just about 10 minutes after Toph demanded it. The podium, microphone, and speakers were set up in the press conference room. Press began swarming into the room, even before Toph was there. Toph, Aang, and Sokka fought the crowd as they shuffled through to the podium. Toph stood behind it, Sokka and Aang on both of her sides. Toph spoke first, to give a brief over-view of the situation. She was completely cautious of what she needed, and what she wanted to say. She was careful to not say too much.

"Hello citizens of the Earth Kingdom. I speak to each and every one of you, because this will be going out to the entire Kingdom. As some of you may know, here in Republic City, a rare and mostly-unknown disease broke out," Toph had started. Aang was thinking that she was already saying too much. "The scientists here in Republic City are pouring their hearts into their work, towards finding a cure. I'm here to finalize and make it official that the entire Earth Kingdom, as a whole, must be under quarantine. Each individual city must have their own quarantine system, and make sure that every single citizen gets the care and attention they deserve. Now, a word from Councilman Sokka."

Toph stepped down from the podium, and switched spots with Sokka. Sokka discreetly kicked the step stool behind him, and took the podium. He had more information to give the press, knowing that was what they fed off of. He cleared his throat, and adjusted the microphone.

"I just want to say that there is nothing to panic about, with this disease," Sokka started, "We know for a fact that it is water-borne, and not airborne. With this being the case, it'll be much easier to find the source, and cure it. We would just like to address you to please be safe, and make sure you get your monthly check-up at your local doctor's office."

Sokka switched spots with Aang. Aang was a bit nervous, as he wasn't sure what to say at first. When he got to the podium, he adjusted the microphone, and waited a few seconds before he began to talk.

"We are know that someone purposely left the city with the intention to spread the disease," Aang said. "We don't have a profile to deliver, but we can give you a few tips on what to look out for, just to be sure that this person is not entering your village, or city. Look out for someone who does not look like a regular, and doesn't stay awhile during their 'visit' to your village. If someone matches this behavior, please call the hotline that will be delivered to you after our message. Please stay safe, and proceed with caution."

Aang moved the microphone away from his face. He rested his hands on the podium, and folded them neatly. He had his legs crossed over each other, and leaned his weight onto the podium, waiting for the press to swarm the stage. Only about a fourth of the press members left the room with no further questions. The remaining members swarmed the front of the stage angrily, like a bunch of teens in the mosh-pit of a rock concert.

"We'll take your questions if you would please quiet down," Aang said sternly.

It took a moment for the crowd to quiet down. No one knew when to start off the questions, so dozens of people began asking tons of questions at once. Everyone wanted their questions to be heard, so everyone began shouting over each other. Aang was only able to make out one question out of the entire crowd.

"Will you keep us, the citizens of the Earth Kingdom, notified with any new information about this disease?" A woman asked.

Aang pulled the microphone toward him again, and answered, "We will keep everyone updated, yes."

After Aang responded, the crowd got louder. Aang looked over at Sokka, who exchanged a hopeless look. Aang nudged Toph gently with his elbow, to see what she wanted to do. Toph leaned over and whispered into his ear.

"Forget them," She whispered, "Can't hear a damn thing. Let's move."

Aang quickly said, "That's all the time we have for now."

The three quickly evacuated the room, out through a back door. They closed and locked the door behind them, sighing with relief. Toph rubbed her aching forehead, grunting with anger.

Sokka wiped off the tension from his forehead, and shook his head. Aang just looked generally annoyed, and began to walk away from his two friends.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sokka asked.

"Home," Aang said, not looking back, "Which is where I suggest you should go too, before that crowd finds us again."

* * *

Sokka arrived in his deluxe apartment after the short walk home. When he walked in, the place was strangely quiet. The aroma of cooking penguin-meat on the stove met his senses, making him immediately feel at home. He smiled widely, hung up his jacket, and walked into the kitchen. Suki was flipping the meat over, while trying to keep an eye on their two year old son, Koda. Koda was in the living room, which led out from the kitchen, playing with wooden blocks. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but recently, the toddler grew fond of putting everything in his mouth.

"Hey babe," Sokka said smoothly, sneaking up behind her and stealing a kiss on the cheek.

Suki didn't react; she ignored him and focused on the cooking meat. Sokka found this a little strange, so he decided to proceed with caution. He slowly wrapped his arms around her from behind, which he knew she loved. Suki gently rolled her shoulders, rolling his arms off of her. Sokka took a step back, and raised an eyebrow.

"Now what was that for?" He asked.

Suki paused, before turning around to look at him. They shared a quiet moment of just looking into each other's eyes. Suki glared into his eyes, while Sokka just looked like a confused, sad puppy.

"Thanks for keeping me updated," Suki said in a dry, sarcastic tone.

"I'm sorry?" Sokka asked, not understanding what she was talking about.

"I spoke with your sister today," Suki spoke sternly.

Sokka was even more confused. What did Katara have to do with this? What was this even all about? Why was Suki so mad?

"Sokka," Suki sighed, "Why haven't you just been honest with me?"

Sokka looked at her, still with a dumbfounded, puzzled expression. His head was cocked to the side, and he was staring at her, trying to figure her out. Suki increased the intensity of her glare; a glare that could kill a man.

After a few moments, she looked down and shook her head. She let out a short laugh, but it was an angry laugh. She rolled her eyes at him.

"If you could stop with the attitude and the passive-aggressive-ness, that'd be nice," Sokka muttered wryly.

Suki looked up at him and scoffed, "I'm being passive-aggressive?"

He spread his arms out open into to the air, shrugged his shoulders, and started to yell, "Yes, because you're acting all pissy, like I know what you're talking about, but I don't! I have no idea what you're talking about!"

By now, Koda had put down his blocks, and was watching his parents argue. He watched in silence, and they didn't even notice he was paying attention.

"Well for one thing," Suki started, her voice rising a bit, too. "I had to find out about the disbandment of the council from Katara. Katara, of all people. She isn't even apart of the council, and she was the one who told me."

Sokka's jaw dropped to the floor. He shut his eyes tight, and his head throbbed. He rubbed his forehead with his fingers, trying to release some of the tension. He shook his head, and let out a little laugh. He was so frustrated, but was a little amused. She'd gotten so worked up over this?

"That's it?" Sokka asked.

Suki glared at him accusingly, "That's it? What do you mean 'that's it?'"

Sokka began to laugh, "I mean, this is what you've got your panties in a knot for? Just a little secret? Katara only knows about this because she's the one who came up with the idea. I don't understand why you're so mad!"

Suki clenched her jaw. Through gritted teeth, she angrily spat out, "I would tread very lightly right now. Your word choice is not helping."

She began to walk towards him, slowly and angrily. He took a step back. She'd hit him over the head a couple of times in the past when she'd gotten mad. It was gentle, but he knew that he could never hit her back. Plus, he never wanted to. He looked at her with caution, and a little bit of fear. When she'd met his face, she looked up at him. She was tiny, but she was fierce.

When she noticed the fear in his eyes, her expression softened. She still looked angry, but less dangerous.

"I need to clear my head," Suki said, looking away from him.

Sokka looked down at her with concern. She avoided his glance, and folded her arms across her chest.

"I'm leaving," Suki said.

Sokka's stomach dropped to his feet. His heart rate increased. He could feel the blood leave his face, due to the sudden panic. His heart was suddenly in his throat, and it felt like it was choking him. For a second he couldn't talk. He drew in a sharp breath, attempting to say something. He trembled in his stance, trying to sound like he was okay.

They'd gotten into tons of fights and arguments in the past. Most of them ended in make-up sex, or some kind of romantic notion. This time, that was certainly not the case. Suki had never threatened to leave before. Sokka was so terrified, he thought this was going to hurt their marriage. He fought back the tears, that increased the size of the lump in his throat.

He wanted to scream and cry. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, and beg her not to leave. His head was spinning, and he could feel that he was going off balanced. He tried so hard to breathe, but it hurt so bad. He was absolutely terrified. He tried to reach a hand out to place on her shoulder, but she smacked it down quickly. Somehow, that snapped him back into reality.

After a moment, he swallowed harshly, and gained the ability to speak again.

"W-what?" He sputtered, "Why?"

She looked up at him blankly. When he only stared at her with the same puzzled look as before, she just sighed and shook her head.

"I can't believe you just said that," Suki said.

Suki left the room, and began to walk out into their bedroom. Sokka began following her. She raced into their bedroom, and started digging around for an over-night bag. Then she violently searched through her drawers, looking for a pair of comfortable clothing, and a pair of casual clothing.

"Where are you going to go?" Sokka asked, "Every where is closed off. You literally can't leave the city."

Suki ignored him, and continued to put together her over-night bag. She rushed into the bathroom, which was connected to the master bedroom, and gathered her hair products. She grabbed a small container of body wash, and shoved it into the bag. When she turned around, Sokka was leaning against the door frame, blocking her from exiting.

"Let me through, Sokka!" She demanded, trying to push his arm out of her way.

Sokka was stronger than her, so he maintained his grip on the opposite side of the door frame. He refused to let her leave, and stared down at her, angrily.

"You can't do this Sokka," She said, trying to push past him. "Let me through!"

After a little bit of a fight, he let her through. She ran past him and was just about to leave the room when he turned around and grabbed her shoulder. Suki was stopped with a jolt, and she was terrified. Sokka was clearly much stronger than her, that it was intimidating. She was scared that he was going to hurt her. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. She stopped completely when she realized his eyes were filled with tears, too.

She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

"The only reason I'm so upset with you is because-" She took a minute to collect herself, to make sure she wouldn't cry. "-is because you acted like you still had work. You were gone for more than five hours, each day. Where were you, when you could have been here, helping me take care of our son?"

Tears streamed down Sokka's face. The words cut him deep, and he realized he'd messed up there. He shook his head, and whispered something she didn't catch.

"What?" Suki asked.

"I said '_I'm sorry'_." He repeated. "It was to make everything seem like everything was still normal."

"Who knows where you were, though," Suki said, tears stinging her eyes, "For all I know, you could have been cheating on me."

He stood there for a moment, letting the last sentence soak in. He blinked, and more tears came rolling down his reddened cheeks. She began to walk out of their room after she'd said that. For a second, he just let her.

_You can't let her get away with that, _he thought, _you have to let her know._

Sokka raced after her, grabbing her wrist. He stopped her right as she was turning out of the room. She turned around, and refused to look at him again. She drew in a harsh breath. When she spoke, her voice was still hoarse.

"I told you, I'm leaving," Suki said. "I'll be back tomorrow."

With one swift movement, he pinned her to the wall across the short hall. Her back hit the wall with a soft thud, and she nearly screamed. She looked up at him, realizing his face was right in front of hers. Tears swelled her eyes again, and she felt herself trembling. She tried leaning her head back, but she ended up just hitting it on the wall. Her breathing pace quickened, and her palms went cold and clammy.

"How _dare_ you accuse me of cheating on you?" He asked, his voice so sharp it cut like daggers. "Do you have any idea how bad that hurt?"

His face was so close to hers, she felt his breath on her face.

"You know I would never, _ever_ do that to you. I would never _hurt_ you," He said. He began to cry again, "I love you _so fucking much."_

There was a split second where they were just staring into each other's eyes. Suki looked up at him, an extra sparkle in her eye. But maybe that was because she was crying. Sokka took it as his queue, and cupped her face with his hand. They met each other's lips. Sokka pulled her in towards her to deepen the kiss. He started to pick her up with his other arm to wrap her legs around his waist. Suki pulled away before he could, and stepped back. She parted from the kiss, and looked up at him again. Dark tear streaks ran down her face, from her eye makeup.

"No," Suki said, "Not this time, Sokka. I'm leaving."

She quickly walked away. Sokka stayed there, a single tear running down his cheek. He put his arm up against the wall, to hold him up. He stared down at the floorboards, and watched the tear drip down off of his nose, and onto the floor. He sighed when he heard the door slam moments later. Followed by the cry of his little boy.

* * *

It was a cool, winter night in the Earth Kingdom. Kanan had completed his first part of his task. Kanan was exhausted. After a quick run out of Gaipan, he'd made a stop at the next village. He didn't catch the name of it, because he climbed over the walls set up by the quarantine team. The jump down was harsh; the fall lasted more than 3 seconds, and he landed harshly into the yellow sand.

When he landed, he got caught up in a coughing fit. His coughs were so harsh, it felt like daggers were scraping off the sides of his throat. They turned into heavy wheezes, and he toppled over into the sand.

Someone had heard his coughing, and woke up. They rushed outside, and called for a guard. The spotlights around the walls turned on, catching Kanan off-guard. He sat up onto his knees when he noticed. Then, a screeching alarm started going off, awaking the entire village. The alarm pierced his ears, making them ring. When he tried to stand up and run, he fell right back down to the ground.

_I guess this is it _he thought _This is how I'm going to die._

Suddenly, Kanan was swarmed with guards. They all circled around him, and bent down before him. They lifted him onto a stretcher, and carried him into some building. Kanan's vision was so fuzzy, he could barely see who the people were.

When they got him all situated in the room, all he heard was medical orders from the doctors.

"Place an IV."

"Get me a pump."

"He needs oxygen!"

Everything kept fading in and out for Kanan. His shirt was getting torn open, and needles were poking into him over and over. He felt cold, latex gloves pressed against his skin. He felt pressure being applied to his chest, and suddenly he had to cough again.

He was on his back, and he couldn't fight the urge to cough. His lungs were so tight, he could barely breathe. When he coughed, blood spewed out of his mouth, and all over the doctors. He continuously coughed, and each time he'd inhale to cough again, he'd suck back in some of the blood he'd just coughed up. He began to choke on his blood.

"Sit him up! He's going to choke to death!" A female doctor ordered.

Suddenly, Kanan was launched up, sitting up right. As he continued to cough, blood poured out of his mouth. He began to start feeling lighter, and lighter. His head felt like it was spinning, but it also felt extremely light.

_I'm dying._

Kanan heard the door to the room open. A man came into his blurry view, and slammed a file onto a near by desk. The man had a bright green suit, with a white dress shirt underneath. His tie was black, like his pants and his shoes. He wasn't fit, but he wasn't over weight. His hair was buzzed, and graying at the hair line. He had a beard that circled around his mouth. Just like his hair, his beard had the "salt and pepper" color to it, from age.

A doctor who was washing off his arms and face from Kanan's blood being splattered onto him. The dark skinned man leaned over and whispered to the doctor. The doctor stood still for a moment, as he listened. But then, the doctor looked panicked.

The doctor ran over to his colleagues, and whispered something. Kanan wasn't able to catch it, because his ears had started to ring. The other doctors still were working on trying to stabalize Kanan.

"Does he have an ID?" A male doctor asked.

"Not that I know of," A female nurse responded.

_You've caught me._

"Check the pockets."

"He's starting to flat line!" A female voice shrieked.

Kanan's eyes shut, and he became just a limp, floppy, body. They laid him down on his back again, and figured there was no use to resuscitating him. His death was so harsh, he probably wouldn't be able to come back anyway.

"Do you think he's the guy?" The dark skinned man asked.

The doctor nodded, "We should report it right away, Sir."

* * *

Suki wondered the streets of downtown Republic City. She'd just left her apartment, 15 minutes ago, and was looking for a place to stay. The sky was dimming; dawn was upon her. She needed to find a place quickly, before she was a lone young, adult woman, wandering the dark streets of Republic City. She walked past a fancy, lit up restaurant, when she heard the distant groan of a sky bison. Her face lit up, and she came up with an idea.

_Katara and Aang would definitely let me stay the night! _She thought.

She waited for the next taxi, and called it over. It was a 25 minute ride over to the docks. The driver was just a couple of blocks off, though. When she arrived, she paid the driver, and quickly got out of the taxi. When the taxi drove away, she noticed that she was further from the docks than she'd thought. She looked around, and all she saw was water, and dark alleyways.

She had to pass through an alley to get to the docks. She quickly gathered her bag, and rushed through the alley. She was half way through the dirty, dark alley when she tripped over something. It felt like someone else's foot. Suddenly, she was picked up to her feet, her hands pulled behind her back, tied together, and then she was pinned to a gravel wall. Her back and head hit the wall with such force, she was almost knocked out. Her wrists were smashed up against the wall, they have been broken right away.

She was about to cry out for help, when a gloved hand covered her mouth, and absorbed the sound. Another hand tugged at the buttons of her light purple blouse. Suki was struggling to fight him off. Her only defense was her dangling feet. She kept swinging her feet, aiming for his crotch. He managed to dodge her feet at first.

"Behave yourself, woman," The man's raspy, hoarse voice demanded.

Suki cried out, but it was muffled by his hand. The man was having trouble with the buttons of her blouse, so he just ripped her shirt down the middle. The tear wasn't even, so it curved down to the right, exposing half of her bra. He reached his hand and tugged at the bra, but it was hooked in the back. He reached down the bra, and cupped her breast. He grinned evilly, as he caressed the soft skin. She screamed, as she felt his warm, gloved hands squeeze her breast. She started to cry, which only resulted in giving the man more pleasure.

She did her best to try and squirm out of his grasp. She kept flailing around, but it didn't do her much. She tried to bite the gloved hand that was forced over her mouth, but the gloves were a thick leather. She kept trying to move around, but he had her pinned to the wall with such force. He was so physically strong, it made her feel so week and vulnerable.

The man traced his two finger tips down her navel, to the waist line of her leggings. He was starting to tug at the waistband, and at that point, Suki's adrenaline was rushing. She was able to bend her knee up, nailing the guy's elbow, or "funny bone." She then swung her leg directly up into his crotch. She kneed with such force, he fell down to his knees. The man let out a sickening, inhumane sound, and fell over on his side. He curled up into a ball, moaning.

"Don't mess with a kyoshi warrior, you sick, fucking bastard!" She screamed.

She began kicking his sides, the pointed tips of her heels jabbing his sides. He cried out in pain after each kick.

"You!" She screamed through gritted teeth, "Sick. Fucking-"

She picked up her foot, and stomped on his face. Her stiletto heels, stabbing him. Over, and over.

"Gross," She cried, "Piece of trash!"

With one last forceful stomp, her heel went 1/6 of the way into his head. He had dents, holes from her heels, and bruises all over his face. She sobbed, as she kept kicking his dead body. The blood spatter had gotten all over her ankles. Her heels were covered in dark red blood, and pieces of his insides were stuck to her shoes.

Suki was crying the entire time. She bent down to take off her heels. When she was bent over, she got a good look at the man's face, or what was left of it. She could tell he was older, hair and eyebrows were mostly gray. He had wrinkles around his mouth, and eyes. His skin was so dirty, she couldn't tell if his original skin tone was pale, or dark. And that was all Suki needed to see.

She grabbed her over-night bag, and ran down the rest of the alley. Her heart was racing, tears kept running down her cheeks. All she wanted was to be inside a safe, and warm home.

When she reached the other end of the alley, the docks were just feet away. She ran up to the railing and threw her bloody shoes over into the bay. She watched them sink until she could no longer see them.

She ran over to the docks, and boarded the last ferry over to Air Temple Island. She sat down on the side, tucking her legs close to her chest. She rocked forward a little, trying to comfort herself from the forceful trauma she'd just faced. She was still crying uncontrollably, thinking about how close he was to fully assaulting her.

She looked down at the crystal-clear water. She watched the small waves splash gently against the boat. It was fully dark, but the half-lit moon reflected itself on the water. She saw her reflection, and she looked disgusting. Her hair was disheveled, her face was puffy and had dark tear marks running down. She had bruises on her neck and collarbone. She straight forward, and realized that the boat was docked.

The boat horn went off, alarming the residents of Air Temple Island. Suki gathered her things, and walked off the boat, onto the docks of the island. She was greeted by air acolytes, who at first didn't realize her condition. When they noticed how beaten-up she looked, they gasped and asked her what happened.

Still traumatized, she answered, "Just get me to Katara."

* * *

**Holy shit. This scene was really difficult to write and it was quite disturbing. Please review though.**


	7. It's Never Too Easy

**7 - It's Never Too Easy**

* * *

Aang and Katara were alerted by the ferry horn. Aang was finishing up his nightly prayers, while Katara was brushing her teeth, and preparing for bed. Katara put on a heavy coat, grabbed her water canvas, and rushed out side, assuming someone on the island this late meant an emergency. When she got to the steps that led to the docks, she saw a crowd of Air Acolyte women circled around something.

Katara ran down the stairs as fast as she could. When she reached the docks, she ordered the acolytes away. When the acolytes cleared a path for Katara, she was shocked at what she saw. She shrieked, when she saw the condition Suki was in.

"Oh no," Katara cried, rushing to her side, "What happened?"

Suki opened her mouth to speak, but she ended up just bursting into tears. She hugged onto Katara, and cried into her shoulder. Katara wrapped a comforting arm around her sister in-law. Suki melted into the embraced, and sobbed quietly into Katara's shoulder. Katara held her there for a moment, quietly stroking her hair, and rubbing her back. After a while, Suki looked up at Katara and pointed to the temple. Katara nodded, and began to guide her back inside.

The walk back inside took about 5 minutes. When they entered the temple, they entered through a door that led to the female guest hall. In the hall there were too bathrooms, and tons of bedrooms that Katara never managed to count. Katara guided her to one of the many vacant bedrooms. She let Suki go over to the bed and sit down on her own. Katara cautiously followed, and sat down beside Suki.

It was clearly obvious what had happened. But, what Katara didn't know was who did it, and where it happened, and what happened to the man who did it. Katara knew this was an extremely sensitive subject, so she knew she had to tread very lightly with the questions she asked.

Being a nurse who worked a lot at the clinics and hospitals, she'd dealt with trauma and rape victims before. She knew what kind of questions to ask. She knew not to ask questions that sounded like they could be taken the wrong way. She knew not to ask a question like "what were you wearing?" because that would make it sound like she was blaming the victim.

Suki stared blankly at the ground. Katara knew it was going to be a little while for her to start talking again, and feel comfortable telling the story. Katara just wrapped an arm around Suki's shoulders, and gave them a comforting squeeze. Suki immediately tensed up when she felt Katara's hand around her shoulder. Not only did it remind her immediately of how the man had groped her, she had tons of bruises over her body. Katara had managed to just hit the bruise.

"Please don't," Suki said, scooting away from Katara, "that hurts."

"Oh, I didn't mean to hurt you," Katara said, jolting her hand away, "Oh spirits, I'm so sorry, Suki."

Suki looked down and away from Katara. She folded her arms across her chest tightly. Suki, even in the safety and warmth of Katara and Aang's welcoming home, still felt cold and vulnerable. She shivered from head to toe. Katara began to notice, and stood up.

"I'm going to get you a pair of comfortable, fresh clothes," Katara said, "And while I'm at it, would you like me to run you a bath."

Suki nodded. Anything to get that man's hands off of her. He was gloved, but it still felt like he'd touched her with his bare hands. She pulled her knees closely into her chest again, and rolled onto her side.

* * *

When Aang noticed Katara running around with a stack of the guest clothing, and towels, he had to question the situation. He followed Katara around and she explained as she was getting everything set up for Suki. She explained to him that she did not want him to walk into the room and talk to her. The last thing Suki needed after what happened was to be alone in a room with a male. Katara explained how that wasn't anything against him, it was just the fact that he was a male. Aang and Katara both know that Aang would never do such an unspeakable act.

Katara told Aang that Suki hadn't even told the story yet. Suki was still recovering, and trying to collect her thoughts. When Aang asked about taking her to one of the hospitals, Katara immediately shut down his idea. Dealing with assault victims, she knew how much they hated being swarmed with doctors, and biased questions from male doctors.

"Not to mention, I can easily heal up her physical wounds," Katara said. "Her emotional wounds are going to take time. But for right now, I'm just going to help her out as much as I can."

"Don't you think we should tell Sokka?" Aang asked.

Katara stopped in her tracks. She hadn't even thought about Sokka. The thought of telling him, and explaining her situation and emotional state was going to be one hell of a roller coaster.

It made Katara think; _I wonder what Suki was doing out in the city at night, alone? _She knew that there was no way she could ask Suki, without Suki taking it the wrong way. If this had happened to Katara, and someone asked her that question, she'd be so upset. Not to mention, she'd be furious.

"We'll get to that," Katara said, stopping outside of the guest room Suki was in. "In the meantime, I'm going to ask you nicely to please walk away and wait for me in the kitchen."

Aang nodded and did as he was told. He didn't want to interfere with such a traumatizing incident that didn't have anything to do with him. Katara waited until he was down the hall before she walked in. When she walked in, she was devastated. Suki was curled in a ball, sobbing into the blankets.

Katara threw down the stack of the fresh laundry and ran to Suki's side. She helped Suki sit up, and pointed to the fresh clothes. Suki nodded, and walked over to go change into them.

"Do you mind if I ask you about what exactly happened?" Katara asked. "We can take it one step at a time."

"Yes," Suki answered, pulling the fresh pajama shirt over her head. "I think it's better if I talk about it, too."

Katara smiled. She waited for Suki to finish getting dressed. When Suki rejoined her on the edge of the bed, she took a deep breath and began telling the story. She talked about how she was already on her way to their house, due to a fight she had with Sokka. Then she told Katara about the cab driver, who dropped her off just a few blocks too soon. And Suki continued to go on about how she blames the cab driver for what happened. Katara just nodded.

Then Suki got to the hard part; explaining the actual incident. As she began to tell the story, she forced her eyes shut. She was re-living it as she explained it. Katara grabbed her hand, and Suki squeezed it as tight as she could. Her wrists were broken, and she told Katara. Then she went on about her shirt, and how the man grabbed her breast.

"He was just about to get into my pants, when I suddenly felt this adrenaline," Suki explained, "It was crazy. I just felt like ten times stronger, and I kneed him right in the crotch."

"Nice defense tactic," Katara said with a nod.

Suki nodded, "And from there on, I was so angry and upset."

"Who could blame you?" Katara said, "Any woman would be, too. You're such a strong fighter, Suki. I'm so sorry this happened to you. But I'm so glad you came to me. I'm willing to give you all of the care and help you need."

Suki nodded, and even began to cry, "But I don't think any woman would have done what I did after that."

Katara hesitated, "What did you do?"

Suki took in a deep breath. She swallowed the lump in her throat. She closed her eyes for a short moment, and a tear raced down her cheek. She released the air she'd taken in, and her shoulders seemed to relax as she exhaled.

She took in another deep breath and continued, "I was so upset, that I began kicking him as he laid there on his side. I kept kicking him, over and over. But it gets worse; I started kicking his face. Let me remind you, I was wearing 3-inch stiletto heels. After kicking him in the side, I picked up my foot and-"

She drew out another, shaky breath, "I stomped down as hard as I could."

Katara stopped herself from letting out a gasp. They sat in silence for a second; Suki waited for Katara to say something. Katara kept her mouth shut, remembering to just be all ears, and no opinion. The silence was filled by Suki's sobs. She leaned over and rested her head on the back of Katara's shoulder.

"I killed him!" Suki sobbed, "I could have stopped myself, but I didn't. I killed a man, and I don't even feel any remorse."

"Of course you don't," Katara said, "He did something terrible to you, so you fought back. It was self-defense."

Suki shook her head. Katara felt it on her shoulder. Suki's tears seeped through Katara's night gown.

"I'm gonna go to prison," Suki cried.

Katara found Suki's head, and gently grabbed it with her hand. She stroked the back of Suki's head soothingly.

"No, sweetie," Katara whispered, "You're not going to get into any trouble. You can't be blamed for this. If anything were to happen to one of you, it would be him going to prison."

"But I killed someone!"

"It was self-defense," Katara said, "They can't charge you for self-defense. Either way, your husband is on the council, you're close friends with the chief of police, and the Avatar. You're staying here."

"Oh no," Suki screamed, "My husband."

* * *

Sokka was called up, just moments after Katara and Suki talked. Suki was in the bath when Sokka arrived. He brought his son with him, as he couldn't just leave him alone. Koda was asleep, and was being carried on Sokka's hip. Katara hadn't explained the situation, he just told him to come over because it was urgent.

When he came over, Katara's first priority was making sure Koda was safe, and laying down in a bed. They got Koda all situated in a spare bedroom, then Katara took Sokka back out into the kitchen. Aang had left the room for the two siblings to talk on their own. Katara sat down across from Sokka, and began to explain the situation.

"Now this is an extremely sensitive topic," Katara started, "And I need you to listen carefully, because it could depend on the status of your relationship."

Immediately, Sokka tensed up. His stomach dropped to his feet, and he began to sweat nervously. His hands that were resting carelessly were formed into fists. His jaw tightened, and took in a quick, sharp, breath.

Katara began to tell the story, for the second time that night. She avoided most of the descriptive details. Katara explained how she was felt up and groped, then went into the detail about the murder. Then Katara told him how Suki was upset that she killed someone, and kept blaming herself. Katara told him to help convince her that Suki is completely innocent.

Sokka, who'd started crying since the beginning of the story, sat there with his hands covering his mouth. He was basically trembling with fear, and anxiety. He was anxious, as he thought about how this was going to affect their relationship.

"She might talk to you after she gets out of the bath," Katara said. "But please, be very cautious, and don't touch her too much."

"I don't think she'll want to talk to me," Sokka said.

"Why not?"

Sokka went into detail about his fight with Suki earlier on in the day. Sokka sounded a little passive-aggressive, and sounded like he was blaming Katara for their argument. He kept mentioning to Katara, "Suki said _you_ were the one who told her about the council situation."

Sokka was finished the story when he said, "If you didn't tell her that, she wouldn't have stormed out, and she'd be fine right now."

Katara shook her head. She balled her hands into fists, and stood up. She swung at Sokka, and hooked him right in the face. Sokka cried out in pain, and grunted. He rubbed the sore part on the bridge of his nose, where she'd punched him.

"What the hell, Katara?" Sokka yelled.

Aang came running into the room to make sure everything was all right. When he saw Sokka's head bowed, and him rubbing his nose, he assumed he was punched.

"What did I just say to do?" Katara screamed at him, "I told you not to blame me, or Suki. And what do you do? You just fucking blamed both of us!"

Aang backed up a step. He'd never heard her use such a harsh word such as "fuck." He knew that if she was using it, she had to be extremely upset. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. He stayed to make sure no more punches would be thrown.

"I didn't mean-" Sokka called out, holding out an arm at her. He was flinching behind his hand.

"I can't even look at you right now," Katara said, turning around. She jumped a little when she noticed Aang. Aang was staring directly at her, and immediately Katara looked away. Her face heated up, and she was sure it was bright red. "Just leave."

Sokka paused. He put his arm down, back at his side. He fixed his posture, loosened up a bit, and then stared directly at Katara.

"Leave?" He asked. His voice croaked with emotion.

Katara was too mad to feel bad about kicking him out. Sokka's shoulders and head bowed, and he turned around for the door. He wasn't going to say anything. He knew Katara was clear when she told him to leave. He remembered his encounter with Suki earlier, and learned it was better not to argue. He was all ready to leave, when he remembered Koda.

"I'll take my son, and I'll go home," Sokka said, "If that's what you want."

Katara didn't say anything. She crossed her arms across her chest, and looked away from him. She listened to his footsteps leave the room, and walk down the hall.

Sokka walked down the guest hall, looking for the third room on the left. Right as he was about to turn into the room, the bathroom door swung open. Suki walked out in a short bath robe, and a small towel resting on the back of her neck. When she noticed Sokka, she stopped in her steps. Sokka looked over, and they locked eyes.

They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, from a distance. Suki opened her mouth to say something, but shut it firmly. Sokka looked down and away. He was going to say something, but he just turned into the room Koda was in. He went into the room, and saw Koda sleeping soundly on the bed. He looked so peaceful, and from the angle Sokka was standing at, he looked a lot like Suki.

Sokka walked over, and carefully scooped up the sleeping toddler. He propped him on his hip, and rested the child's head on his shoulder. When he walked out, Suki was standing outside the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Suki asked. "It's late. You should be home with him."

Sokka sighed, and looked down at her with sorrow in his eyes. He was sorry about what happened to her, but couldn't find a way to bring it up. Sokka open his mouth, but found himself lost at words.

Suki stared up at him, waiting for him to respond. When he didn't, she just rolled her eyes and shook her head. She started to walk away, leaving him standing there in his cowardice.

* * *

The next morning, the phone in Aang's office rang. It was barely past the early hour of 7, and Aang was still asleep. When he heard the sound, he stumbled out of bed, then practically ran to go answer it. When he answered it, his voice was raspy, and deeper than usual.

"Hello?"

"Am I speaking to Avatar Aang?" The man asked.

"Yes," Aang answered.

"Hello Avatar, I am Mayor Sudhir of Senlin Village. Last night, we had an encounter with one of the infected."

"Go on," The Avatar mumbled lazily.

"We think we found your guy."

Aang froze for a second. He remembered what he'd mentioned at the press conference. He swore his heart stopped beating for a minute. So many questions rushed through his head. How did they know he was the one? He proceeded to ask.

"How are you so sure?" Aang asked.

"We identified him," Mayor Sudhir responded. "He's not from our village. Hell, he's not even from the Earth Kingdom!"

"Name?"

"Kanan. No last name; he comes from an unknown family."

"I'm going to get the forensic team on the way to the village. They'll handle it, and they should be there in no time," Aang responded, yawning through the phone.

"But Sir, you're the Avatar..." Sudhir said, "Shouldn't you be here, too?"

Aang rubbed his tired, heavy eyes. He held back another yawn, trying not to sound too disrespectful over the phone. He took a deep breath and finally said, "You're right, Mr. Mayor; I am the Avatar. But I have no business being there at the scene. I'll wait for the forensic report."

Aang was tired of this whole quarantine and disease situation. He'd explained this to Sokka before how he shouldn't be the one involved in all of this. As the Avatar had nothing to do with science.

"As you wish," Sudhir responded. "Thank you for your time, Avatar."

"Thanks for keeping me updated, Mayor," Aang responded, "The forensic team will be there soon."

He hung up the phone with the mayor and immediately called in the forensic team. He ordered them to the given village, and told them how to dress once they arrived to the crime scene. Hazardous uniform was heavily suggested.

After Aang hung up the phone, he heard Bumi crying from his room. Now that Bumi was a bit older, he barely cried when he first woke up. He would usually speak non sense, trying to get his parents' attention. Aang rushed to his son's room, only to see Bumi lying on his side, and his face was pale as a ghost. Bumi had mocha colored skin, like his mother. He was a little lighter though. But this morning Bumi was especially pale.

Aang took a step closer into his room. Bumi was covered in a layer of sweat. The last thing that got to Aang was the thick cough his son let out. Immediately his stomach dropped, and his heart began to race.

"No..." Aang whispered in disbelief to himself. "It can't be..."

* * *

**Please review! Sorry this one took forever. Had the longest writer's block!**


	8. Sick

**Happy new year everyone! I hope 2016 is a good one. Here's my new year gift to you; this chapter!**

**Well I'm sure that tells you how long ago I STARTED this chapter. I've had continuous writer's blocks throughout the two months, on top of my own personal problems. Hopefully 2016 hasn't thrown you any curveballs, and I hope it stays that way for you all. **

**Chapter 8 - Sick**

* * *

_Dear Zuko,_

_I hope everything is going well over in the Fire Nation. I have to tell you, if you don't know already, that everything isn't going too well here in the Earth Kingdom. A disease has been going around for the past few months. We had the disease contained for a short while. During this time, everyone was able to continue their daily schedules. But you know my luck; there's always someone against me. No matter what. A man under the name of Kanan somehow escaped from the quarantined city, with the intention to spread the disease. He successfully spread it to most of the central Earth Kingdom villages, but was caught when he died from the disease. He managed to live long enough with the disease to commit these crimes. I don't know how he did so, as most people with the disease die within a few days, if they're lucky. He must have had inside resources, which kind of scares me. It plays with my mind, making me question who I've hired. I think we're going to run background checks on everyone in the medical field. It's a lot to do... Hopefully we'll catch whoever it is before it's too late. _

_Well I just wanted to give you a brief update, and tell you what's going on over here. But please follow my word when I say this; do not enter the Earth Kingdom. Right now, there is way too much going on. We need to contain this disease, and contain the outbreak. People keep looking to me, and think that since I'm the Avatar, I can cure this. I bend the elements, I do not have magical healing and curing powers. I wish the citizens would realize that. There's not much I can do here. _

_That's all for now, take care._

_Aang._

_P.S Congratulations on the baby! I wish you joy and happiness... and full nights of sleep! (If you don't understand why I say that, you will soon)_

* * *

"No..." Aang whispered in disbelief to himself. "It can't be..."

Aang walked a few steps further into his son's room. He listened as his son coughed, and cried. He didn't see if Bumi was coughing up anything, like blood or mucus. But it sure sounded like he was coughing up something. Aang carefully looked over into the crib, making sure that he wasn't choking. When he was looking over, Bumi noticed him, and immediately started reaching for Aang.

Bumi was just over 2 years old. He'd been able to talk, but not very clearly. He knew how to say simple stuff like "mama" and "dada" and was able to tell them stuff like "I have to go potty" or "I'm hungry." Now Bumi was just crying, and repeating the phrase "dada" to get Aang's attention. Aang was afraid to do anything, such as hold Bumi.

Aang couldn't remember a time he was more terrified in his entire life. His stomach was twisted in knots. His breath hitched, and his eye sight got fuzzy. He wanted to tell Bumi that he was going to be right back, but the words didn't come out. His mouth just fell open, but no sound came out. His heart was pounding against his chest. He could hear it so loud, he was sure Bumi could hear it too.

He held up a shaky finger, which meant "give me a second." After that, he started running. At first, he didn't know why he was running, or how. His thoughts were blocked out by his fear, and he was very light headed. He raced into his and Katara's bedroom, but saw the bed was empty. He found this unusual, as Katara was never awake this early in the morning. He ran out into the hall, calling her name. He was ready to throw up. He realized he'd started to sweat, too.

"Katara!" He yelled.

Finally, Katara came from the kitchen, holding one of Bumi's sippy-cups. She looked flustered and disheveled. She stared at him with an impatient glare. She motioned her hand to let him know she was ready for him to talk.

"It's Bumi," Aang said, catching his breath from running around and panicking. "I heard him coughing, and it sounded really bad. He's pale, and all sweaty. Katara, I don't know how but I think he's-"

"Relax, will you?" Katara growled.

Aang stood there in disbelief. Their son could be on his death bed right now, and she was telling him to relax? He was not going to have it. He took a step closer to her, and crossed his arms.

His jaw was clenched, his eyes were dark and stormy. He was obviously furious with how she was responding. His heart was racing with panic, but now it was racing with anger. He could feel the heat rush to the top of his head. He glared down at her. Katara looked up at him with an interrogating look. She knew exactly what he was thinking about, but Katara knew what was actually happening; which was why she was calm.

"You're telling me to relax, when Bumi-"

"-has nothing too major, but the flu," Katara said, putting her arm out to keep him out of her personal space. And when she did, she gently shoved him back.

Aang's shoulders sank with relief. He felt a heavy weight lift off of them. His heart began to slow down to it's normal pace. He threw his head back and laughed at his own foolishness. He stood there for a solid minute, just laughing.

When he recovered, he said, "I'm so sorry for blowing up at you, I was just scared and it's so early; the sun hasn't even come up yet-"

"I understand, trust me," Katara said, going back to preparing a warm bottle of milk for Bumi, "It's like going back in time; waking up early for Bumi. But this time it's more serious. The flu is still pretty bad because you have to wait it out. I'm going to do the best I can for him, of course."

"I was all ready to send messenger hawks out, to like Sokka, warning him not to come to the house, and inform Zuko..." Aang said with a laugh, "Thankfully, I didn't."

Katara laughed at his response, but then she went back to finishing the drink she was going to put in Bumi's cup. It had different herbal remedies, and different healing juices. She heated it up in the microwave, so it'd be nice and warm for Bumi.

When she left the kitchen to go to Bumi's room and give him the drink, Aang followed.

Katara sat up Bumi in his crib, and gave him the drink. As he was drinking, she had her pouch of water on, ready heal him. She bended the water from it, and placed her hands on the sides of his head. When she was healing him, the room was illuminated with a brilliant blue light. Bumi looked a little confused at first, but then the soothing feeling got to his head. He looked up at both of his parents with heavy eyes. He was still taking sips of the drink, but he was beginning to fall over.

Katara reached into the crib and picked up Bumi. She walked over to the rocking chair next to his crib, and sat down with him on her lap. She rocked in the chair gently, as Bumi leaned his back against her arm, and his head on her chest. Katara used her other hand to soothingly rub his arm, which only made him more tired.

"Just keep drinking," Katara whispered to him.

Aang smiled, and a warm feeling rushed to his heart, making it feel fluffy. All the scared thoughts he had from before were completely vanished, and right now he could only focus on how adorable Katara and Bumi looked. Aang walked over and knelt down in front of Katara and Bumi. He placed his hand on the toddler's head, and gently ran his finger's through the locks of hair.

"Looks like you're getting tired, buddy," Aang said with a smile.

Bumi just nodded slowly. He'd finished his drink and handed it to Aang.

"Thank you," Aang said, happily taking the cup from his tired son's hands.

"Y'welcome," Bumi muttered lazily.

Bumi curled into his mother's arms, and rolled onto his side. He was in the position of cradled baby. Katara held him like a baby, and pulled him closer to her. She used her first two fingers of her other hand to softly caress his cheek. She ran her fingers down his soft, hairless face. It amazed her; his skin was so smooth and fresh, not affected by age.

His eyes grew so heavy, they slowly shut. Katara rocked him gently, until she started to hear his breathing increase. Once she realized he'd already been fast asleep, she carefully put him back in his crib. After putting him down, she stood there for a short while, just watching him sleep.

Aang stood up, and walked up next to her. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her in for a side-hug.

"What was in that drink?" Aang whispered, cautious of the sleeping child.

"It was some basic healing remedies to help soothe his stomach and keep him hydrated. I also put in some natural sleeping herbs, too."

Aang gently rested his head on top of hers. He grabbed her into a full-on hug, and whispered to her, "You're such an amazing mother."

Katara shifted her head onto Aang's shoulder. She thanked him, and hugged him tighter.

"Why don't we go back to bed?" He whispered smoothly.

"I'll be right there," Katara said, pulling out of the embrace, "I'm going to check on Suki."

* * *

**3 Days Later**

It was an empty day for the Police Station. Toph was relieved; the past few weeks had been a living hell in that station. People would come reporting incidents that weren't considered illegal. Others came to report symptoms of the disease. After a week, Toph had her officers hang up a sign on the front doors that said _Please do not come in here if you have been experiencing any of the following symptoms: coughing, dizziness, cold sweats, high fevers, bloody feces, bloody urine, coughing up blood, or severe headaches. Please go to the clinic, or a hospital. _

Sokka was currently raising Koda on his own, with Suki refusing to see him. Sokka had been feeling very depressed, and knew that he needed to get out of the house, and be active. So, he took Koda, and walked to the Police Station. The walk was only a few blocks, so it was nothing too out-of-the-way. When Sokka arrived, he didn't have to check in. He just went straight to Toph's office, and set Koda down on the ground. He immediately ran over to Toph, and jumped into her lap. Toph greeted him by gently ruffling his hair. She let him sit on her lap while Sokka walked over and sat on her desk.

"What's the visit for? Ya miss seeing me?" Toph teased.

Sokka frowned, "After what happened with Suki, I don't know what to do anymore."

Toph sighed. She knew this wasn't going to be a fun visit. She was slightly disappointed, as she had to get all serious, which was not like her usual, sassy and sarcastic self.

"And Katara isn't talking to me either," Sokka said, "After I said the wrong thing the other day."

"Oh jeez," Toph said, with serious sympathy, "That blows. How about Aang? Is he talking to you?"

"I don't know," Sokka said, "I haven't tried."

Toph sighed in response. She felt bad for Sokka, but she didn't know what to tell him. Toph had seen plenty of rape cases in her life, but after interviewing the victims and collecting the evidence, she didn't get much else out of the victims. She never knew what the recovery process was like, and she surely never wanted to find out the hard way. She had no advice for the partner of a recovering rape victim either.

"Maybe you can try to talk to Aang, and he can tell you how Suki is holding up?" Toph suggested.

Sokka just gave Toph a sad shrug.

Koda looked up at his father, and reached for him. Toph scooted back in her chair a bit, to give him room to climb out. Koda climbed onto the desk, and crawled to Sokka. Sokka picked him up, and placed him in his lap. Koda was facing Sokka's front, and stood up on Sokka's lap. He reached his hands for Sokka's face, and grabbed his chin.

"Can we see mommy when we done?" The two-year-old asked.

Sokka let out a sad sigh, "I don't think mommy wants us to visit."

Koda frowned, "Why not?"

"She's sick. And remember how Auntie Katara is a healer?"

Koda nodded.

"Well, Auntie Katara is going to heal her, until she's better. And once she feels better, we can see her. She might even come home!"

Toph's eyes watered at the sound of Sokka's voice. It was hoarse, and hopeless. But when he talked to Koda, he tried to mask it. Of course Koda didn't notice it, being the young boy he was. But Toph could hear it, and feel it through his heart rate. She also felt bad for Koda. The way she was hearing it, it sounded like Sokka was just giving Koda false-hope. She knew the boy would grow impatient, waiting for his mother to recover, and start crying and realizing that she's more than just "sick."

"When will she be better?" Koda asked, his heart fluttered with a little bit of joy.

Sokka sighed, "Don't get your hopes too high, buddy. It could be a while."

The little boy immediately shrunk in sadness. All he let out was a sad, "Oh." And for some reason, that was what broke the dam of emotions in Sokka. He just started sobbing, right there in front of Koda and Toph.

Toph pressed some kind of button on her desk, and then there was a distant short alarm. Two guards came into the office almost immediately afterwards.

"What seems to be the problem, chief?" The one male guard asked.

"Take the little boy, and place him in the holding-nursery. Keep an eye on him, he's practically my nephew," Toph ordered.

"As you wish, chief."

The two men came over, and removed the little boy from Sokka's lap. Koda started to flail, kick, and cry for his father. Quickly, they carried the frightened boy out of Toph's office. When the guards left the office, they could still hear Koda screaming for Sokka, all the way down the hall. All Sokka was doing, was sitting there crying.

"Just let it out," Toph said comfortably.

"I just don't think our relationship will ever be the same again," Sokka said between sobs. "I'm so scared, that we're just going to crumble and fall apart. And then there's Koda... What will happen if Suki and I just crumble?"

"That's not going to happen, Sokka," Toph said, standing up to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Both of you are stronger than that, this kind of stuff just takes time."

"But how long..?"

"As long as Suki needs," Toph said. "She's with Katara; the best healer in the world. Katara will do what ever she can to make sure Suki's okay."

Sokka sighed hopelessly before saying, "I've researched this... Most women do not fully recover from sexual assault."

* * *

After the depressing trip to Toph's office, Sokka took Koda to Aang and Katara's house on the island. Sokka was hoping he would be able to check on Suki, and make amends with Katara. He knocked on the front door, and he was relieved that it was Aang who answered. Aang let him in, and caught him up with everything that was going on around the house.

"I just wiped down the kitchen, because Bumi's sick," Aang said, "He's got the flu. Katara checked on Suki about an hour ago. I don't know how she's been, Katara just went right back to bed."

"Thanks man," Sokka said, giving Aang a hug.

Koda was excited to see his uncle, and was happy to be held in his arms. He was talking Aang's ear off, when Sokka left to go check on Suki. He wandered down the hall, until he came to her room. He gently knocked on the door, and heard Suki let him in.

"Hey," Sokka said softly.

Suki hesitated when Sokka walked in. She was glad he only walked a few steps into the room. She felt cheated not knowing who it was at the door. She sat down on the bed and greeted him with a hello back.

"How are you feeling?" Sokka asked.

"Better than I was a few days ago," Suki said. "I'm kind of glad to see you. Did you bring Koda with you?"

Sokka nodded with a smile, "Would you like me to go get him?"

"In a few minutes," Suki requested. "I want to talk to you, first."

Sokka swallowed the nervous lump in his throat, "Oh, okay."

Suki patted the empty spot on the bed beside her, letting Sokka know it was okay for him to go over and sit next to her. She held out her hand, and let him hold it. They sat for a little while, not talking. They let each other's presences absorb the silence.

After a few minutes, Sokka said, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to let you know I'm sorry," When she started talking, her voice croaked, and tears were in her eyes. "I'm sorry I haven't been around with you and Koda lately. I haven't really talked to anyone around here; I'm still so terrified and I just..."

She trailed off through her tears. Sokka asked if he could wrap his arm around her, and she accepted, but she was clearly uncomfortable about it. Sokka gently rubbed her arm for comfort.

"It's completely understandable," Sokka said. "You need more time to recover. Take all the time you need. You've experienced a terrible and traumatizing incident, and I understand what you're getting at. It's okay, Suki. Please don't worry about this."

Suki shook his arm off of her, and cried into her hands. Sokka offered his comfort, but she declined it. When she finally looked back up at him, he was looking at her with sorrow, but he was also very patient. Suki's amethyst eyes were soaked with tears, and her cheeks were slightly flushed. Sokka rushed over to the nightstand, grabbed her a tissue from the box, and handed it to her. She took it to wipe her eyes and blow her nose. She balled it up and tossed it in the trashcan that stood near the door.

"Thank you for being so understanding," Suki said, and for the first time since the incident, she let someone hug her.

* * *

Shortly after Sokka came to get Koda to bring him to Suki, Bumi woke up screaming and crying. Aang rushed into his room, and found him covered in sweat and his own vomit. Bumi was in pain and discomfort, and was crying for Katara. When he saw Aang he called out for his mommy instead. When Aang told him that Katara was asleep, he began to whimper.

"It's okay, buddy," Aang said leaning over the crib bars, "I'm here. Let's get you cleaned up."

Aang bended the water from a cup near by, and used it to bend the vomit from Bumi's pajamas. Then, he grabbed a fresh pair of pajamas for Bumi, and took him to the bathroom. He ran a lukewarm bath for Bumi. When he went to put Bumi in the water, he tried to flail his way out.

Aang told him he had to get cleaned up if he wanted to feel any better. After a few minutes of convincing him, Bumi finally got into the tub willingly, without a fit. Aang quickly washed him up before the water got too cold.

He quickly dried him off and wrapped him up in a towel. He carried him to his room and dressed Bumi in a fresh pair of soft pajamas. When Aang was just about to set Bumi back down in his crib, Bumi sat up and began to whine.

"Daddy," The toddler cried, "I feel yucky again."

Aang knew what was going to come next; he was going to vomit. Aang quickly got the trashcan by the door, placed it next to the crib, scooped up Bumi, and placed him so his head was over the bucket. He then explained to Bumi to throw up into the bucket, and to be sure to aim so that it wouldn't make a mess. But when Bumi looked down at the trashcan, his stomach churned even more, and it only made him cry.

"I want mommy," He whined, "She makes me feel better!"

Aang knew not to take it personally. Katara was the healer, obviously she could make him feel better. Aang told Bumi to stay there, while he rushed to go get Katara. He felt terrible to disturb her sleep, but Bumi was being difficult.

He rushed into their room, all panicked. She woke up to the sound of how unusually loud his footsteps were when he entered the room. When she asked if it was Bumi, he nodded. She jumped out of bed and rushed to his room.

When she got there, she saw Bumi curled up on the floor, with a tipped over bucket near his head. He was crying, and clutching at his stomach. He whimpered for Katara. Katara scooped him up, and carried him into the bathroom.

Aang stood alone in the doorway of Bumi's room. He was listening to the sound of his heartbeat in his own ears, while feeling completely and utterly useless at the same time. He felt bad that he disturbed Katara, but he knew she was the one who knew how to really deal with this type of situation. Aang was just playing along as he went on.

He slumped his shoulders hopelessly, sighed, and decided to take Katara's previous role, and go back to bed.

* * *

**Apologies for the lame ending, I kinda just needed to get this out. I don't know when the next chapter will be out. I may go back and add more to this chapter, so keep an eye out for an update. As always, please review. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**UPDATE: There wasn't much to add, this is just lame. :/**


	9. Home

**Chapter 9 - Home**

* * *

**1 Week Later...**

The sun had sunken beneath the horizon within the previous hours. It was a cold, crisp, night. The temple was always a few degrees colder from the rest of the city, as it was an island; surrounded by water. The wind would blow the cold mist off the water, making it colder on the island. Usually, Aang and Katara would have a few windows open for the night, but this night was too cold for that.

Katara sat in the kitchen, which was illuminated by a couple of candles. There were countless amounts of medical files, sprawled out across the kitchen table. She sat with her head in her hands, grunting every minute. At this time, she'd been frustrated with her hair being in her face as she was trying to read all of the files, so she angrily pulled it up into an effortless, sloppy bun. The glob of hair had started at the top of her head, and was now sitting lowly at the top of her spine. She looked so distressed, and was ready to cry.

Aang walked out with a candle on a dirty plate, and tossed the plate into the kitchen. At first, he didn't acknowledge Katara, until he heard her unpleasant grunts from her stress. He walked over to the table, placed the candle down, and stood over her shoulder. Katara looked up at him from her seat at the table.

Aang was always taller than her ever since he was a teenager. But when she was sitting down, and looking up at him, he was a giant from her angle. But as she looked up at him, she observed every muscle on the way up to his face. He wore his favorite pair of baggy, but very warm, gray sweatpants, with a tight-fitting white thermal shirt. His lean, muscular figure had boldly shown through the shirt. He was in his usual pajamas he wore in the winter time, but Katara thought he looked 'hot as hell.' She must have taken too long to get to his face, because he'd started laughing.

"You know, my face is up here," He teased.

She rolled her eyes, and looked back down at her medical files. She kept glancing back and forth at them, and Aang.

"What's the problem?" Aang asked.

"All of _this..._" She said, motioning to the mess of files. "Why am I getting reports of the same thing? There's gotta be hundreds of cases of the disease in here, and yet, they all say the same thing. What conclusions am I supposed to draw from this?"

Aang shrugged. He was as useless as the amount of medical reports that contained the same information on each, individual, case.

"I'm about to send these all back to the Biology and Other Sciences Unit with an angry note attached to it!" She said, quickly trying to put them back into one big, organized pile. Though she was so angry, she kept knocking it over and making a bigger mess. She let out a pathetic sound that sounded like a sad grunt, and dropped her head down on the table.

"Let me help you with that," Aang said, carefully shuffling papers back into their manila folders, and stacking them in a neat pile. He quickly finished the pile, while Katara's head was still down. He stepped back when it was complete, with a sigh of relief. Katara slowly put her head up, and gave him a sad smile. Then she reached over and hugged him. It was a bit awkward at first, she was sitting, and he was standing. She was hugging his waist.

He next to her on the chair, and then pulled her into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her, and rested his head on top of hers. She buried her face in his chest, and sighed with content.

They sat together for a few minutes, just holding each other in their arms. Then, they were startled by the sound of light footsteps entering the kitchen. Katara jumped out of Aang's lap to see who it was, and to her surprise, she saw Suki standing there. Suki's hair was well-groomed, she wore fresh clothes, and most of her bruises were gone from her attack. She looked almost good as new. She stood carrying a bag of dirty clothes, and she wore a smile on her face.

"Thank you guys, so much, for letting me stay here for the last month," She started. "I can't thank you two enough. And I don't want to be a burden, and stay here for too long, so I'm going back home. I'm going to wash these clothes you let me borrow, and return them later."

Katara smiled, "You don't have to do that, Suki. And your presence is never going to be a burden."

"Thank you," Suki said, "But I think I've stayed here too long. It's time for me to return back to _my _family."

"Well, I'm not going to make you stay," Katara said, "I'm glad you're moving forward."

Suki nodded with a smile, then walked up to Katara and gave her a long, comforting hug. She whispered something in her ear, only for Katara to hear. Katara smiled and nodded, and hugged her a little tighter. When they let go, Suki walked over to Aang. He stood up, and waited for her to hug him. She gave him a hug that was a little quicker than the one she gave Katara.

"You've got a good woman in your hands," She whispered for only Aang to hear, "Don't ever forget that. Don't let her slip through your hands, ever. Don't ever grow detached, and do what I did."

"I know," Aang whispered with a warm smile.

They let go from the hug, and Suki carried on with her way out the door. She was almost at the door, when Katara raced after her, asking her to wait up for a second.

Katara grabbed a coat out of the closet, and helped put it on Suki, "It's freezing. You'll need this."

"Thank you," She said, with a bow of her head. And for the last time that night, hugged Katara. Then, proceeded to leave. Katara watched her leave, until she couldn't see Suki anymore. Aang walked over, and placed an arm around her shoulders. He was gently trying to pull Katara away from the window, but she was practically glued to it.

"Katara, she'll be fine," Aang reassured her with a smile, "This is exactly what she wouldn't want you to do."

Katara sighed, "I can't help but worry."

Aang pulled her into a hug. Katara hugged him back, but she was still glancing out the window. She saw nothing but the dark and empty courtyard. Suki had to be back in the city by now, or at least very close.

"Come on, let's go to bed." Aang said, walking her to the bedroom, and using his air bending to blow out the candles.

"Just a second," She said, quickly making her way into the guest room that Suki stayed in. "I'll be there in 5."

She heard their door shut, and she sighed. She walked over to the bed, which was already neatly made. It looked like nobody had ever stayed in it. Suki was there for an entire month, and no one would ever guess.

When examining the room, she noticed a slip of paper that was resting on the pillow. It was a letter. She quickly walked over to the bed, sat down, and read it.

_Dear Katara,_

_I can not express in words how thankful I am to have you help me through what is definitely the darkest time of my entire life. Without you, I probably wouldn't be here right now, writing this letter. I'm proud of myself; it's been an entire week without my mind flashing back to that night. I really don't know how I got through it. I know I wouldn't have been able to do it on my own._

_To make you feel better, because I'm sure you're worried, I'm going to start seeing a therapist. I need to get back into the swing of things. I can't stay here forever, be away from my family. __I feel so bad for shutting Sokka out for so long. he__ is miserable without me; I could see it in his eyes when he visited me with Koda. I miss Koda, and I'm sure I've missed out on so much with him. I regret staying here for so long. I hope it isn't too weird to come back to my family after being gone for a whole month. I'll keep in touch with you, and keep you update. Love you, sister._

_Suki_

Katara noticed that a tear had rolled down her face, and landed on the piece of paper. She wasn't sad; she was proud. She was reading a piece of evidence that she'd helped someone through their darkest time.

She rolled the paper up, and put it in the drawer beside the bed. She walked out, and closed the door behind her. Then she made her way into her bedroom.

* * *

**1 month later...**

Katara was woken up by the screeching cry of a messenger hawk. It was standing in the window of their bedroom, tapping at the glass. She opened the scroll, which had an official stamp marked on it. She knew exactly what it was.

_Dear Master Katara,_

_We have received your letter attached to the medical files we sent you in the previous month. We're sorry we took so long to reply, but i'm sure you will understand. We wanted to inform you that we will no longer be sending you case files, due to the fact that we have discovered a permanent vaccine. We've tested it on plenty of animals, and the first test on a human was performed 2 weeks ago. The results have only been positive. Thanks to the help from you, and your family, we are offering you all a free vaccine. This will cover you, your husband (The Avatar), your son, your brother, and his family. _

_This offer will never expire. I know both you and The Avatar have busy schedules, so we offer you to come in whenever it's the best time for you. Please share this letter with your family, to let them all know._

_Thank you for all of your cooperation._

_Sincerely,_

_The Biology and Other Sciences Unit. _

She smiled. A happy start to what she was hoping would be a great day. Since it was still early in the morning, the sun was barely above the horizon. She rolled over onto her other side, so that she was facing Aang. He was still asleep, looking like a peaceful, angelic figure. There was something about Aang when he was asleep; he always looked like an innocent, small child. Obviously, he wasn't.

Katara watched him grow up from that small, innocent child he once was. She watched him grow into a power man; the most powerful man in the world. She was so lucky to have a man like him in her life, to be her husband. She was so excited she wanted to wake him up to announce the information from the letter she just read, but at the same time, she didn't want to disturb his slumber.

Propped up on one arm, she continued to watch him sleep. She watched as his mouth hung slightly open, and listened to his heavy, calm, breathing pattern. She watched him in awe, as she could see a resemblance to Bumi, when they would watch him drift off into sleep when he was an infant. Being the hyper child he has always been, and still is, it was such a relief for the two new parents when he would finally fall asleep. He looked just like Aang when he did.

She reached forward, and softly caressed his smooth cheek. She ran her fingers down his cheekbone, until she reached his beard. It took her a while to get used to the beard, but she eventually came around to accept it. She hated touching it though. It was such a negative contrast to his smooth cheeks. When she hesitated, her hand was just resting awkwardly on his face, which caused him to wake up.

His eyes slowly opened, and when they did, he looked drowsy and confused. He slowly reached up, and grabbed Katara's wrist. He pulled it away from his face to examine it. He turned it to the other side, then back to the front. Katara began to laugh, which only caused him to become more confused.

"Have you never seen a hand before?" She asked, teasingly.

His eyes were drawn to her face when she spoke. When they locked eyes, he smiled in awe. She smiled back, but she was still laughing at how delirious he was.

"Honestly..." He began. In the middle of talking, he'd closed his eyes and almost fell back asleep. "I love everything about you."

Katara's heart fluttered at the comment. She smiled adoringly, but it quickly faded into a frown when she realized he was practically back into a deep sleep.

She gently slapped his upper arm to wake him up, and get his attention, "Hey, stay up for a second. I actually have some good news."

"Can it wait 'til morning?" He slurred in question.

"But, I want to tell you now," She said in a playful voice, pretending to sound sad. She walked her two fingers across his chest.

He opened one eye from her touch. Then, he looked up at her. He slowly rolled over to face her. When he opened both eyes to look at her, they were so heavy they were practically closing again. She giggled, then gently tapped his face to wake him up.

"Was that really necessary?" Aang asked in a grumpy, tired, tone. "Can you just get to the point already so I can go back to sleep?"

She knew it was his exhausted side talking, so she didn't take his aggravation personally. Plus, the news wasn't something that _couldn't _wait to be told later. She just liked to mess with him sometimes, and she really wanted to tell him now.

"What if I was pregnant and you sound so unenthusiastic," Katara said, jokingly. "You don't have to be so snippy about it."

He perked up immediately, "Wait... What? Are you?"

"No, but that sure got your full attention, didn't it?" Katara said, running her fingers up his chest.

He let out an angry grunt, obviously offended, "You're such a tease." He turned to the opposite side, so that his back was toward her.

She giggled and scooted closer to him. She threw an arm over him, and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Sorry if I got your hopes up," She whispered. She kissed him from his rounded, defined cheek bone, down to his jaw line, then lingered on his neck. He let out a pleasurable groan.

"It _is _good news though."

He turned onto his back so that he could look at her. He tucked a stray hair behind her ear, waiting for her to continue.

"I got a letter from the Biology and Other Sciences Unit," she started. "They informed us that they've finally discovered a vaccine, and that we get first pick. That includes us, Bumi, Sokka, Suki, and Koda. Isn't that so generous of them?"

"That's amazing!" He exclaimed.

"It's free, too!" She added with excitement.

He favored her with a smile, "That's great, sweetie."

Aang stared up at her with heavy, tired eyes. And after a few minutes of staring into each other's eyes, Aang asked if it was okay to fall back asleep. Katara laughed, and nodded.

"You've got the right idea."

She curled up next to him, and fell back asleep in his arms.

* * *

**1 month ago...**

It was the middle of the night by the time Suki arrived in _her _home. The deluxe apartment was silent and dark, except for one room. The room she shared with Sokka was still lit, with two candles. Suki knocked gently on the door, before walking in.

Before Suki had entered, Sokka was writing a letter to the Biology and Other Sciences Unit. He had a couple of case files on the desk in their bedroom, and they were spread open, to the pages with the data of the time each deceased patient had caught the disease, to the time they died. He was writing a follow-up report, which was just basic protocol, if something stood out to him.

When he heard the soft knock on the door, his heart stopped for a second. He knew it was Suki. Not just because it wouldn't have been anyone else, but he could tell by the way she knocked. Whenever he was alone in their bedroom, she would always softly knock on the door to let him know she was entering the room. It was just one of the little things she did, and he always picked up on it.

He spun around in his chair to watch her walk into the room. When she walked in, she placed her bags down on the ground, by the end of the bed. She looked so much cleaner, healthier, and much happier from the first time he'd seen her after the attack, and since the time he'd visited her. Her hair was well-groomed, her clothes looked very basic, but they looked very fresh and nice on her. Even though it was just a pair of pale gray sweat pants, and a slightly baggy, lavender, longed-sleeve bed shirt.

He stood up, and walked over to her, closing the distance between them. Since he was so much taller than her, he had to look down, and she had to look up at him. He smiled at her, and she smiled right back at him.

"Welcome home," He said, slowly wrapping his arms around her. It was slightly awkward, since he wasn't sure if it was okay for him to hug her.

"Don't worry, you can hug me," Suki said with a slight laugh. She melted into his arms, and sighed with relief. She felt very secure, it was such a longing relief. She hadn't felt so secure in months.

"I missed you so much," Sokka said, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

Suki re positioned herself so that she could look back up at him again. Instead of looking happy, she looked sad. At first, Sokka thought it was because he'd kissed her, but then she began to explain herself.

"I'm so, so, sorry," She began, immediately bursting into tears. "I should have came back sooner."

"No," Sokka responded comfortingly. "This isn't your fault."

She sniffled, "I must have missed so much. I feel like I missed out on so much with Koda. And I- Us... I..." She trailed off sadly.

Sokka slowly pulled her back into a tight hug. He gently rocked her in his arms, shushing her calmly. He began to run his fingers through her hair, while she quietly sobbed into his shirt.

"Don't worry about that," Sokka whispered. "What matters is that you're safe, and you're feeling better. You needed to recover on your own. It's totally understandable."

"I miss you," She cried. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," Sokka said, closing his eyes and smiling. He rested his head upon hers, and sighed with content.

After a few moments of them still standing, and hugging, Sokka asked if it was okay that they joined each other on the bed. Suki slowly nodded, not sure if she was ready for any intimacy. But that wasn't what Sokka had in mind.

Sokka sat down on the bed, and carefully led her onto the bed with him, by gently guiding her with her arm. He pulled her into his lap. She put wrapped her legs around his waist, and pulled him into a hug.

They sat there, happy to finally be back in each other's arms. Both of them were smiling. But the moment didn't last for long. A sudden feeling of guilt washed over her, and she couldn't help but remember the reason why she left their home originally. They had a bad argument beforehand, and on her way over to Katara and Aang's that's when it happened. The images started flashing in her mind again, but instead of letting that flooding of emotions come back, she shook it off.

After a short while, Suki looked up at him and asked, "Are we going to be okay?"

"Of course," Sokka whispered. "I wont let anything happen to you again."

Suki smiled, and hugged him back, tighter. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, which tickled him, making his stomach feel like it was dropping. He inhaled deeply, to avoid letting out any kind of groan, or laughter. It was a bit awkward at first, but eventually, Suki realized it. Then, she didn't quite mind the thought of kissing his neck. She knew what it could lead into, and she wasn't worried about it. It was right; Sokka was her husband. She was safe, in a better place mentally, and physically.

She turned her head slightly, and started kissing his neck. After the first few, Sokka pulled back a bit, stopping her.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" He asked.

She nodded, "It's okay. I want to kiss you."

He smiled, then proceeded to kiss her back. At first, it was gentle kisses back and forth, until they were eventually laying down on top of each other, and the kisses were much more passionate.

Healing takes time. Of course, Suki wasn't completely healed. She was definitley improving quickly though, and bouncing back pretty easily. She was much more comfortable to be back at home. She finally felt safe and secure. And she didn't feel like she was "guilted" into kissing Sokka because she was away from him for so long. It was in the moment, and it felt right. Not to mention, she didn't mind. She wasn't afraid. She was okay.

There's no place like home.

* * *

**Hooray for happy endings. Don't get too excited; there's always _something _that ruins the fun for team avatar. Whether it's a deadly disease, or another antagonist... Guess you'll have to find out ;) **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And as always, please review!**


	10. Into The Ocean

**Chapter 10 - Into The Ocean  
**

**First, let me say how much I truly enjoy reading your reviews. I take them straight to the heart, and I love receiving your feedback. It really helps me, especially with my confidence as a writer. :)**

**P.S, MENTIONS OF SEX. THERE IS M RATED CONTENT COMING UP, SO PLEASE SKIP PAST IT IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE READING THAT. The end of the scene is important though.**

* * *

You'd think the "bad guys" would have their "headquarters" in some old, abandoned, warehouse, or some really sketchy place, far from the main setting of the story. But there are people who are smarter than others, and not all mad minds think alike.

Republic City wasn't divided like the massive city of Ba Sing Se. There wasn't the lower, middle class, and upper rings. Everyone lived together; even people who aren't residents of the Earth Kingdom. Republic City is known for it's diversity, which makes it so favored by the people.

In downtown Republic City, there's tons of apartment buildings. There's deluxe apartments, studio apartments, normal sized apartments, and so on. There was one building particularly, that looked so average on the outside, but not on the inside.

Inside, there was one apartment that was a meeting house for a group of people hoping to overthrow the government, and spread the disease. They'd already sent out one man who was infected, Kanan, but they were recently told of his death. They found out through a press conference the Avatar and Chief of Police hosted. When they listened to it on the radio, they sat together, bathing anger.

One girl in particular, was furious. She was the one who gave the orders for Kanan to leave in the first place. She was the one who provided him with the vaccines and cures she stole from the Biology and Other Sciences Unit. The anger coursed through every vein in her body, and rushed to her head. She stood up in anger, ran up to the radio, and smashed it with her hand. Everyone else in the room slowly backed away from her. Some of them even left the room, fearful of what she would do next.

"I want everyone back in here now!" She screamed. "We need to act fast!"

"The situation is critical," A man named Daruka said. "We need to plan this out. We can't just act rationally."

The woman, Keiumi, walked over to him, grabbing his neck and pinning him against the wall. She held him up, an inch above the ground. She pounded his head into the wall before angrily responding, "They know about us. We've got no time!"

"Put me down, Keiumi," The man ordered through violent coughs. "You're slipping; you're letting all of your anger get to your head. It was a press conference. They always say what they want, to make the citizens happy, and that they'll believe them. Don't let it get to you."

After a few minutes of holding up him, and peering into his dark green eyes, with her own piercing icy blue ones, she put him down. He collapsed to the floor, catching his breath in long, exaggerated breaths.

She bowed her head in shame, "You're right. I need to calm down."

He nodded.

* * *

She walked over to the middle of the living room, and motioned for everyone to come sit around her. When they all joined around her, it was silent. In that time, she began to think about what their next move would be.

"Well, as you know, our plan with Kanan was only slightly successful," Keiumi started, "The disease is in a few other villages, but they're already beginning to purge it, because our scouts we set up, turned their backs on us, and cured their villages."

The crowd of people began booing her. She smiled and nodded in agreement.

"I have a better plan," She said with an evil smirk. "This will only require a few people.

So, we're going to go to a small city, like Omashu for example, and purge the _cleanliness_ from their waters. We're going to inject their water systems with the disease. Eventually, people there will begin to get sick."

A man in the crowd raised his hand, and she called on him to let him speak freely. Assuming she would receive criticism, she was ready to fight. She discretely slid into her earth bending fighting stance.

* * *

"I think we should just do that, but instead, pour it into the ocean. If we do that, then the disease will spread to the other nations, since we technically all share the same body of water."

The group fell silent. They were in shock, his plan was so evil, yet so clever. He wanted the whole world to die, slowly, and painfully. She stood up straight, and her jaw was on the floor.

"Wow.." Keiumi said in disbelief, "That's such... That's so much better than my plan... Go hard, or go home, right?"

The group laughed and cheered.

"Alright, let's get to it!"

* * *

"Rise and shine!" Katara chirped cheerfully. She opened the curtains, letting the sunlight shine through, hitting Aang right in the face. He grunted, clearly annoyed. It couldn't have been later than 8AM, Aang didn't plan on waking up that early.

"Why?"

"Today's the day," She sang, walking over to his drawers, pulling out his clothes for him, "We're getting vaccinated!"

"At this hour?" Aang asked. "Why are they making us come so early? They can just come to us."

Katara walked over and placed his clothes at the foot of their bed. She sat on the end of the bed, right next to him. She grabbed his hand and began to try to pull him out of bed.

"Don't you think they're already doing enough, letting us get vaccinated for free?" Katara asked. "Come on, don't be so sluggish."

Aang let out a loud, annoyed, and exaggerated grunt. Afterwards, he slowly sat up, and rubbed his eyes. Katara was looking directly into his eyes, smiling wide. She was smiling too hard, it looked fake. He looked at her with a plain, annoyed expression. She giggled, got up, and walked into the bathroom. When Aang realized she was out of eyesight, he flopped right onto his back, attempting to sleep again.

"I know you're not already falling back asleep, mister!"

He let out another grunt, and jumped out of bed. He lazily put on the clothes Katara laid out for him. It was his usual air nomad attire. He threw on his red sash over it, and walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Katara was brushing out the few knots in her wavy brown hair. She kept glancing over at an unenthusiastic Aang with a smirk. He would throw an occasional glare her way.

"I'm going to get Bumi," Katara said, walking out of the bathroom. "You better not fall back asleep!"

Aang sighed, and gave himself a blank stare in the mirror. He was too busy thinking about how much he wanted to go back to sleep to register anything Katara said. He plucked at stray hairs on his beard that hung longer than the others. The split second of a pinching sensation seemed to wake him up. After fixing up his beard, he washed his face, and slapped some cologne on the bottom of his neck.

He left the bathroom, and headed out to the kitchen. He heard Katara talking to Bumi from the hallway, singing a melody to him as she helped him get dressed. Aang smiled in admiration, listening to Katara's soothing voice. He began to close his eyes, and immediately drifted off into sleep.

He didn't even notice until he was woken up by his angry wife and a giggly Bumi, approximately 10 minutes later. Katara had her arms crossed, looking down at him in the chair, while Bumi climbed into Aang's lap, and grabbed his face in his small hands. Bumi pulled at the short hairs of his beard, and gently shook his face side to side.

Once Aang finished yelling at Bumi, he stood up and kissed Katara on the cheek. Katara playfully shoved him away, with a half-playful-half-angry glare.

"Come on, the sooner we leave, the sooner we get this over with," Katara ordered.

"Is Uncle Sokka gonna be there?" Bumi asked curiously.

"He may be," Katara answered. "Why don't we go find out?"

Bumi clapped excitedly. Then, he put his arms up to Katara, asking to be held. Katara grabbed him from Aang, and placed him on her hip. Then she put her other arm around Aang, and together they all walked out of the house to the bison stables.

Katara walked up to Appa's saddle from his tail, and Aang airbended himself onto the bison's massive head. Aang whipped his reins, and ordered him off to fly.

* * *

Keiumi and Darkua stood by the coast of the Earth Kingdom, just outside of Ba Sing Se. They were standing on rocks alone the coastline, peering down into the ocean. They had tons of gallons of contaminated water with them.

"Are you sure about this?" Daruka asked, glancing at the gallons of water.

"There's no going back now," Keiumi said. "Not when we've come this far."

Daruka knew she was one to act before think. Keiumi would do something harsh and act out, and then it'd be too late to avoid the consequences. Daruka needed to make sure that there could be consequences from this situation, and that she should think about it, before doing it.

"Are you aware that you can be responsible for potentially wiping out the entire population of the world?" Daruka asked.

"We've risked too much to go back now," Keiumi said, popping open the lid to one of the contaminated gallons.

Daruka took a step back, as the smell hit his nose immediately. It reeked of deadly chemicals. There was no other way to explain it than just pure death. Whatever it was, it smelled like it could kill you from the tiniest taste. Then he fixated a stern glare upon Keiumi. He knew she was purposely avoiding his question. She looked down into the contaminated water, and her expression looked very curious.

Then Keiumi inhaled the scent of the water deeply. At first, the harsh smell made her twitch. But then she closed her eyes pleasurably, and inhaled even deeper. She put her head back up, and slowly opened her eyes. Then she stared Daruka down, and exhaled loudly. Then, an evil smile grew upon her face.

"Let the purge begin!"

She kicked the bucket for amusement; it made a clanking sound, and was way too heavy to fall over. Then she picked it up, and simply poured the liquid into the ocean. At first, Daruka gasped, and wore a look of terror. Keiumi noticed his gasp though, and looked over at him. Her happy expression dissolved, and she threw him an icy glare. He was still looking down at the water to realize it. Then once she realized he wasn't going to look up soon, she took a step toward a second gallon, and looked at him with an expression of determination and pleasure. He looked up at her, and her expressions made chills run down his spine. She looked like a pure psychopath. It was the mixed emotions in that expression that just sent the shivers down his spine.

But he smiled to try and disguise his fear. But she already saw his expression of terror, and knew that he certainly did not approve of their actions. She would know that whatever he did next to help her would just be fake. She figured she would double cross her at one point, so she had to think fast on how to take care of him.

She glanced down at the buckets, and motioned for him to help her. Daruka slowly walked over to her, not breaking intense eye contact with her. Her piercing blue eyes peered back into his own dark green orbs. He bent down and picked up a bucket, then turned around to let her watch him pop off the lid. She let out and pleasurable sound, and smirked at him as he dumped the water into the ocean.

He continued to help her, but let her have the pride in pouring out the last gallon. He stepped back to let her have her glory moment. He watched with fake admiration, as she popped off the lid, and stared down into the liquid. She inhaled it one last time, and then dumped it slowly into the ocean. She took the bucket, and tossed it behind her. Then she turned around, and faced Daruka.

Daruka looked at her with fake desire. She noticed, and realized that his face looked like he wanted it, but his pupils were too small to match the look, and she immediately saw right through it. She smirked, and realized that this had to be her moment before he would do something to her. She slowly closed the distance between them. She walked over like she was trying to be sexy, watching his pupils grow. Now he was actually attracted.

She watched her hands slide up his leg, beginning to drive him crazy. He held his breath, trying to remain cool. The hand then trained up to his waist, then up his back, and cupping the back of his head. She pulled his head toward her, and captured his lips. At first he was shocked, but then he responded by kissing her back passionately. After melting into the kiss, he wrapped his arms around her, pulled her closer to him.

As they continued to make out with each other, they began to run their hands along each others bodies. Daruka's hands made their way to find her breasts, and Keiumi's hand fumbled with the waistband of his pants. She got excited one she felt him harden, and continued to mess with the waistband of his pants.

Keiumi kissed his lips, then removed them from his. He looked confused and disappointed to be interrupted so abruptly, but she knew what she was doing. She planted a kiss right below his bottom lip, then onto his chin, then his jaw, and stopped at his neck. She sucked at the skin for a moment, then continued down. She peppered a trail of kisses down his chest, then stopped at the waistband of his pants. At this point, she was on her knees, and they both knew what was coming next.

She pretended to have trouble with getting his pants down, which only drove him crazy. After a moment, he took over and helped her remove his pants. They rolled down to his ankles, and Keiumi was left with his underwear. His hardened arousal formed a large budge, which only made her more excited. She quickly removed his underpants, and grabbed his length with her hand. She stroked him off, getting the physical feel of his elongated length, then replacing her hand with her mouth.

He groaned, and moved his hands to cup her head. He wrapped his hands in her long, jet black waves. He began to lightly thrust further into her mouth. Amazed with how far she could go, he only grew harder.

After a few moments, she took her mouth off his erection and stood up. Daruka was very puzzled, and slightly disappointed. She reconnected her lips to his, and fought his tongue with her own. After a few minutes of making out, she gently shoved him onto the ground. She stood above him, looking down at him with desire. Darius was aroused, but now he was slightly scared again. She looked too determined, as if she had something else planned.

Daruka was relieved as he watched her slowly strip for him. First she took off her shirt, then her pants, her bra, and then her underpants. Daruka was practically gazing up at her with heart eyes.

She walked up to him and quickly went on her knees, one on each side of his hips. She's hovered over his long erection, leaning forward to kiss him. Daruka kissed her back, but would detach his lips to speak, or gasp.

"Please," he whispered into her ear. He was begging to be inside of her. Eventually she wouldn't be able to tease him any longer, as they both were longing for the same thing. She smirked, and slowly sank into him.

He hissed, and immediately thrusted his hips. Keiumi pressed down on the ride side of his hip, shook her head and her finger in his face.

"No no, I'm in control," she ordered, "You follow me."

She was power-driven even in intercourse. Daruka smiled and nodded.

She began rocking her hips, and sinking up and down on his length. Daruka was terrified that he wouldn't last much longer. Her tight walls gripped his sensitive skin as he surged so deep in her wet heat. He matched her rhythm, and thrusted his hips in sync with hers.

His hands grabbed her soft, round buttox, and then trailed up to trace the curves that dipped into her slip waist. He traced them up her hourglass figure until he got to her breasts. He grabbed them, causing her to moan his name. He slid his index fingers over to her pink, hardened nipples, massaging them in looped, circular motions. She began chanting his name in ecstasy, and increasing the speed of her thrusts.

Once he caught up to her, he could feel the inner fire incinerating inside his lower abdomen. She felt so good, but he knew he couldn't last much longer, and she was beginning to reach her climax, too.

They both cried out each other's names as their orgasms eventually flooded over them. Daruka shuddered beneath her. Keiumi rolled off of his waist, and onto the rocky ground beneath them. After a few minutes of just laying there, catching their breath, Daruka sat up.

"We should get back," Daruka insisted, pointing his thumb in the general direction behind them. He began to collect their various amount of clothing.

Except she wasn't having any of it. Her clothes were still thrown on the ground, and she was trying to sex him up again.

"I didn't say I was done here," Keiumi said in a low, seductive tone. Daruka swallowed harshly, knowing what was coming next. He was going to fight hard to not let his body control him.

She was down on all fours, her knees deep into the ground, and her hands helping hold herself up. Her round, plump, and perky breasts were pushed together in the middle of her arms, making her look only more desirable. She bit her lip, and picked up her hand to motion him forward with just her index finger. And she had hip bound to her.

He immediately dropped his pile of clothing, and closed the distance between them. He wanted his turn to be in control, so he grabbed her by the arms, and forced her head at his crotch, so that she would only be on her knees. He was already hard again, and she immediately began to suck again.

Right as he was entangling his hand in her hair, she bit down as hard as she could. He yelped, and took an abruptingly large step back, almost on the edge of the rock. Her bite drew some blood, and he looked down, screamed again, and looked back at her. She stood up, and walked over to him, completely closing any distance.

He was still slightly erect, so he felt very uncomfortable. Keiumi brushed her hip against his waist, and then leaned into his ear.

"Thank you," she whispered, so softly that her breath sent chills down his spine. "I needed that, but now, I don't need you."

She stepped back, and then kicked her foot out, hitting him right in the stomach. He went flying off the rock, and screaming into the ocean. The splash was so far down Keiumi had to hover over the edge to hear it. After she was sure he had hit the bottom, she threw his clothes down with him, and then all the containers that had the contaminated water.

She put her clothes back on, and walked away like nothing had ever happened.

* * *

** Damn, talk about humping and dumping... Literally. Thanks for reading, and sorry for the long sex scene. Please review tho**


	11. It Never Fails

**Chapter 11 - It Never Fails**

* * *

It was a nice month spent with his wife and son, being vaccinated, and not having to worry about catching the disease. It was the day before the new year, Bumi had recently turned three years old, and they recently had a big dinner for the winter holidays. Sadly, Zuko and his family were not allowed to come this year, due to the quarantine. But Katara and Aang had a lot of fun with Sokka, Suki, Koda, and Toph. It was nice to talk about the future, now that they were happy, they all imagined a safe and healthy future for each other and their family. And it was the night Katara found out, and immediately announced, she was pregnant. They were all ecstatic, and happy for her. Aang was on he verge of happy-tears, as he could only picture the possibility of having an airbender.

It's not that he didn't love that Bumi wasn't a bender, he just couldn't help but have hopes for this baby to have air bending abilities. He wouldn't mind if it was just one child that was born with air bending powers, he'd still be happy no matter what. Katara and Aang were still young, they still had plenty of time to think about their future and growing family.

Sokka and Suki were talking about their future, after Katara asked them if they were planning on having any other children. The truth was, Suki was still overwhelmed, and experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, so sex and intimacy was barely a small thought in their relationship. Sokka was completely comfortable with the whole situation, since he knew the recovery time for these types of crimes could take years. Suki wasn't up to talking about it, so she quickly ended that discussion.

Koda and Bumi were now around the same age; Koda, a few months older than Bumi. They played together nicely, but were not informed about the idea of having siblings join the family. Koda was never given the talk or anything like that since of the conditions Suki has been in. Bumi didn't even realize that other kids had siblings, he just thought it was two parents and a child. But he would surely learn about that soon enough.

But of course, for team Avatar, nothing can go so well for too long. It wasn't long after the care-free period of time that they found out about the disease being spread to the fire nation. Within a week, a fourth of the fire nation's population was infected, and approximately a sixth of them had died from the disease. Aang figured it was the same people who tried to spread the disease into the Earth Kingdom that were responsible for this. They clearly came up with a smarter way to spread the disease, and Aang was still clueless to how they could have done it.

Aang demanded Toph ran background checks on everyone responsible for handling the disease, but none of the checks came up with anything suspicious. Aang brought Sokka into his decision making process, but they still came up with no one to blame. No one was guilty; everyone had clean records.

Not only did Aang have to deal with hundreds of background check reports, but he had to deal with hundreds of complaints coming from the Fire Nation. He lost count of how many messages he had received and sent to Zuko. The first letter was a very angry one, asking why Aang let this disease spread even with the quarantine. Aang knew he was just looking for someone to blame in the heat of the moment, knowing that Zuko was hot-headed like that. Aang sent back a calm letter informing Zuko on their current situation, and ordered him to Republic City to immediately get vaccinated.

When Zuko arrived, he complained that he was not going to let his nation potentially die out. He came up with a plan with Aang to get vaccines sent over to the fire nation. With the help of Sokka and a bunch of other mechanics, they came up with a way of transportation for these medical supplies. They invented airplanes, and jets; quick way to send important supplies and resources from nation to nation. There was no way Zuko would keep sending men back and forth to pick up vaccines from the Earth Kingdom every week. That would be too much money, and too much unnecessary work. He got himself, along with his family, vaccinated and left shortly after.

Zuko now had 2 daughters. The oldest, Izumi, was five years old, and the youngest, Honora, was only 8 months old. He and Mai were happily married for six years, after a rough few years of being apart in their late teens. After they'd made up, Mai devoted herself to Zuko, allowing him to marry her, and have children with her. She was happy to be welcomed into the royal family, especially when the Fire Lord was someone she had so much chemistry with.

Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph all enjoyed seeing Zuko and his family. It was the first time Aang and Katara met Honora, appreciating how it felt to be temporarily living with a new born again, since it wouldn't be long that the 9 months would go by quickly, and they'd have another child in their home. Zuko was shocked that Katara was telling everyone at such an early stage in the pregnancy. With Bumi, she waited months before she told everyone. She was almost starting to show when she first announced the news to their friends. Katara argued that it was because she was so much younger when she was pregnant with Bumi. Now, at 25, she felt more mature and experienced, so she wasn't so nervous to tell everyone.

Zuko got his family vaccinated before shipping a supply of vaccines off to his nation. He made sure none of his family had the disease before returning to a infected nation. It wasn't the best way to spend his last day in the Earth Kingdom, but the reason he was there wasn't much fun either.

It was not long into the month of February. The sun had been down for hours, but it was still early. That's just how winter is. Some people like it, some don't. Although Zuko gets his energy from the sun, he didn't mind sitting alone in the dark. He sat in a crouched position in the sand, with a small campfire consisting of a few twigs to keep him extra warm. He stared into the flame, and let his thoughts wander.

He was terrified. There was a huge outbreak in his nation, that he is entirely responsible for, yet he had very limited ways of solving it. He was never in such a state of fear in his life. For the first time in years he felt completely helpless. His fear and confusion must have been physically obvious, as Aang found him, and sat beside him. He added a few more sticks to the fire, and made it a bit larger. They sat there in silence for a few moments, breathing in the fresh air, staring into the flames, listening to the waves in the distance. Aang could see how tense he was; his muscles were so tense he looked like he was about to jump up and fight some sort of beast.

"I know exactly how you feel right now," Aang said, breaking the silence.

Zuko sighed, and his shoulders sank. He looked over at Aang with sad eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Yeah," Zuko breathed. "I suppose you do." Sadly.

Aang's eyes met the ground, as the feelings of loneliness and fear came rushing back for a quick second. Zuko realized this, and immediately regretted what he said. He didn't mean to remind Aang of the air benders. He read the expression off of his face, and knew it was exactly what came to Aang's mind first.

"I was talking about the quarantine," Zuko rushed to interject.

"Yeah, but I know you were also referring to the air benders," Aang said. "Don't worry about it, man. I have more hope about the air benders, now that Katara is pregnant and all."

Zuko smiled, a rare occurrence.

"And before you say it," Aang added, "Yes, there's always the 'What if the baby isn't an airbender?' question. But quite honestly, It's completely okay. I can't have Katara be responsible for trying to repopulate the air benders. That's not fair to her. Just like Bumi, if this baby isn't an airbender, it doesn't mean I won't love it any less."

"You're absolutely right," Zuko said. "It's good to hear you're thinking like that. I know most people who definitely wouldn't handle it that way."

"Well you know me," Aang said with a childish grin, "I'm not most people."

Zuko chuckled, "Of course."

Another moment of silence fell between them. Aang stared at Zuko, watching as Zuko stared out into the distance. The particular side of the island they were on, was facing away from Republic City. There were no city lights reflecting into the water, or distant sounds of a lively city. It was dark and quiet, and unbelievably peaceful. Zuko took it all in like a sponge. He barely had any peaceful moments anymore, especially with this new disease entering his nation. He stared down into the dark waves, almost hypnotized by their movement.

Then it clicked. It was as if a lightbulb had turned on in his head, shining bright, and standing out from everything else in his head.

"Hey Aang?" He started.

"Yeah?"

"How exactly does this disease spread?" Zuko asked. "What did you guys clarify it as?"

"Water-borne," Aang replied. "Why?"

Zuko pointed a finger into the dark distance, "That's your answer."

XxX

The next morning, Aang, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka were awake looking at an updated map of the world. They took push pins, and would put them on the areas that were known to be infected. So far, it was the fire nation, Republic City, and various villages amongst the Earth Kingdom. Islands off the coast of the fire nation were beginning to become infected, which only indicated that they needed to act fast.

Zuko had put off his departure for another week to help out Aang and the rest of their friends. They were coming up with ideas to help rid the disease from spreading any further.

"Alright, if we're going to do this, we have to act fast," Sokka stated. "The disease has traveled to the fire nation. I believe that it was the same people who tried spreading the disease into the villages here in the Earth Kingdom. This time, they were more creative, and managed to send the disease into the water. How they did this, I have no idea."

The group was gathered around the table, staring at Sokka and the map.

"We are giving vaccines to the entire world," Sokka said. "That's the only way we can prevent anyone else from getting infected. It'll cost an amount of money that I don't even want to think about right now, but it's the best option."

The group of friends nodded. They knew it would cost a lot, but they also knew that there was no other way they could possibly prevent the spread of the disease. They immediately jumped into action. They were each assigned a job, and they were off.

Zuko and Sokka were in control of ordering the workers at the Biology and Other Sciences Unit, providing them with what they needed to make millions of vaccines. Katara was in charge of dealing with any new patients diagnosed with the disease, and studying how the symptoms affected them during the different stages of the disease. This was done to help create a possible cure. Aang was in charge of the press, and informing Toph with their plan.

* * *

Keiumi returned back to their headquarters, and walked in without a word said. The room fell silent, as they watched her walk in with a smirk drawn on her face. They were waiting for Daruka to enter the room, but when the door slammed shut behind her, they knew he wasn't going to be coming through it. Keiumi sat down at the table in the dining room, and folded her hands over it. She crossed her legs, and stared at her fellow peers. The expression on her face was confusing. She looked happy, but at the same time she looked insane. A few of her members followed her to the table, and sat beside her.

"Your majesty," A male follower said in a low, fearful, tone. "If I'm not mistaken, Daruka was with you. Will he be returning?"

Keiumi smiled, and slowly shook her head. "We will not speak of his treachery."

The man, who was known by the nickname of Blade, went silent. He bowed his head down, and stared at his hands, which were folded upon his lap. He swiveled his thumbs, waiting for someone else to bring anything other topic of conversation.

His wish came true after a few moments of silence. A dark-skinned girl, who went by the name of Switch, spoke up, "Was the mission successful? You're being awfully quiet, your majesty."

Keiumi threw her a genuine smile. "Do not worry about me, Switch. I'm glad you asked about the mission, as it was very successful. The disease should be spread to the rest of the world by tomorrow morning."

"But, will we ever know what happened to Daruka?" Switch asked. "You mentioned he was a traitor, but what did he do? He didn't seem like the type of man to betray you."

Keiumi looked down and shrugged. "He was too scared of me. I stopped him before he could snitch on us."

The table fell silent; they all knew what that meant. Daruka was dead, and however she did it, would forever be a mystery left for them to figure out. Her fellow followers stood around the wooden table, waiting to hear anything new. But it was dead silent.

The sound of the wooden dining chair scraping the hardwood floor was the only sound in the entire apartment. Keiumi slowly stood up from the table, and walked into her own bedroom. The sound of her loud high-heels clacking with every step echoed throughout the building, followed by her bedroom door slamming shut. She fell onto her bottom, sliding against the shut door on the way down.

Her ears began to ring on the way down. Her vision was blocked with fuzziness, and the color of the scenery around her was quickly fading. The pace of her breathing quickened, and it felt like she was losing all of her oxygen. She held her head in her hands, shut her eyes tightly, and tried to calm down. But when she closed her eyes, all she good see was Daruka falling from the cliff side. And she was watching herself dump the corrupted water into the ocean.

Her head bumped into the door, and she opened her eyes again. Her vision was cleared up again, and her hearing was back to to normal. She looked around, processing her surroundings. Her bedroom was spotless, just a bed and a dresser. She remembered where she was, but couldn't remember why she was on the floor. She slowly stood up, and when she straightened out her back, she was incredibly dizzy. She shuffled over to her bed, and flopped onto it. Without even pulling the covers over her, she instantly fell asleep.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I'm REALLY sorry this took forever to come out. I've been busy with school, but now it's finally summer so hopefully I'll be more active. And what also sucks is that I lost ALL but 6 of my files because I wasn't on for 90+ days :( Chapter 12 is almost finished, so keep an eye out. I'm a bit writer's clocked atm tho.**


	12. A Letter

**Chapter 12 - A Letter**

* * *

A dreadful 2 weeks managed to fly by. Zuko was stuck in Republic City, as he couldn't leave the quarantine. He'd sent supplies to his nation, such as the vaccines, but that's all he could do.

Since the Air Temple was so big, Zuko and his family were able to stay in their own rooms. There was enough rooms for all four of them to have their own rooms, but that was not necessary. Zuko and Mai stayed in one room, while Izumi and Honora stayed in a room just next to theirs. Usually, there would be a rule when guests would live on the island, which was to separate each guest based off their gender. But when it came to family, and families staying over, there was an exception.

Barely into the third week that Zuko was living with them, a messenger hawk arrived. The detailing of the hawk's armor was different; it definitely didn't come from the fire nation. The letter holder was in blue and white, and on the top was the symbol for the Southern Watertribe. The messenger hawk had arrived perched up on Aang and Katara's bedroom window. The screech from the animal is what woke them up, and considering what has been happening in the city, and now the fire nation, they jumped right out of bed to read it.

The window was closest to Aang's side of the bed, so he reached it first. He pet the bird, and grabbed the script from the holder. When he unrolled it, and read just the first few sentences, Katara noticed his color had gone from pale to even-paler. The Avatar looked white as a ghost. Immediately, Katara rushed over to his side, and attempted to grab the letter from him. He was so shocked, his grip on the letter was so tight, that when Katara went to grab it, she nearly ripped it. She stood on the tip of her toes to read the message over Aang's shoulder.

_Dear Aang and Katara,_

_I know it's been a while since I've contacted you both, and I'm sorry. But this isn't a time to catch up, this is urgent. I had word from one of the warriors here that the Republic City is in quarantine for some unknown disease. This was hard to believe after five of my men came back from hunting showing major symptoms of this illness. I don't know about the disease, or this supposed quarantine, but it doesn't seem to be doing you guys any good, if the disease has actually spread all the way down here. I'm scared that the numbers will go up, as we have no way to treat it, and lack of knowledge about this sickness. I hope for our sake that this is not what it looks like. Please, contact me back immediately. As I said before, this is extremely urgent._

_With love, of course,_

_Hakoda/Dad_

Katara was ready to faint. Her heart was slamming against the wall of her chest. The room had begun to spin, and she was starting to lose her balance. Her breathing pace had quickened, and at that point, it was obvious. Aang turned around, and saw her staring down at the ground with a blank expression. He grabbed her shoulders, and lightly shook her, trying to see if she would respond.

"Katara?" He asked, "Can you hear me?"

She could hear him, but his voice sounded like an echo. Her ears began to ring, and her vision was slowly fading. She could no longer see any color, and everything was starting to look gray. When she realized he was shaking her, she looked up at him, and she was seeing two of him. He could tell that she wasn't mentally there in the moment. So, he scooped her up and placed her down on the bed. After laying her down, he watched as her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and they shut.

Aang rushed to his office to phone Sokka. When he answered, Aang explained everything, and told him to come over to the Temple immediately.

He arrived within ten minutes, along with Suki and Koda. Suki and Sokka put Koda back to sleep in a spare guest room, across the hall from Katara and Aang's room. The three of them gathered in Aang and Katara's bedroom. Suki sat on the bed beside Katara's unconscious body. Sokka sat on the foot of the bed, watching Aang pace around, and listening to what he had to say.

"I think she reacted this way because our dad is the last thing she has that ties her immediately to our home," Sokka explained. "It's completely understandable why her body would react this way. And I get your concern, but I don't think anything bad will happen to her, or the baby."

Aang continued to pace around the room, despite what Suki and Sokka would say to comfort him. After a while, his pacing began to annoy Sokka, that he ended up yelling at him to sit down somewhere. He claimed that he didn't need Aang's negative vibes to come to him, and make him worry even more.

"Obviously, we're all a bit shaken up right now," Suki interjected. "I think we all just need to sit down, and rejuvenate for a second. Do you want me to get you boys some tea?"

The two men quickly agreed, and Suki rushed out of the room in a hurry. Once she entered the kitchen, she felt a familiar burdening feeling upon her. It was still so early, the kitchen was unlit. The room was empty, and there was just the silence of the time of night. She froze, realizing what her mind was trying to tell her.

The silence, the emptiness of the room, the darkness, the time of night. It all clicked back to the worst night of her life. The fear had returned to her, only it was almost worse. She held her head with her hands, and tried to breathe through it, but the memories were too vivid. Not only that, but did she come to the same place she was right now, after the attack. That could be adding to the post-traumatic stress.

She saw it happening again. Lately, she'd been doing pretty well, but this time it was too similar to the same scenario of that night. But that time, she couldn't scream. His gloved hand was covering her mouth, as he used the other to rip her clothes off. She clutched her chest, and let out a blood curdling scream. Tears flooded down her face, as she could still feel his unwanted touch on her body.

She heard footsteps running from the hallway, and she launched herself forward, and began to run. Her fight or flight reflexes had kicked in, and told her to run. Not again would she let this happen to her. She heard the footsteps catching up to her, and now she was almost at the front entrance of the temple.

"Suki!" Her husband called out, "Suki, please stop! What happened?"

She screamed in response to his voice, because she only registered it as a man's voice, not her husband's. She only screamed once again, and busted through the front doors of the temple. She ran out into the sandy perimeter, stopping at the surface of the bay. She collapsed onto her stomach, and cried out what felt like the entire amount of water in her body.

She was only outside for a few minutes, when Sokka and Aang had caught up with her. Sokka knelt down beside her, and at first she didn't realize. When he reached for her hand, and whispered her name, she pulled away and punched him, square in the face. The punch, to him, was almost like a wake-up-call. He realized that she was having post-trauma stress, and backed a few steps away. He quietly motioned for Aang to step away as well.

"Are you okay?" Aang mouthed quietly.

Sokka nodded, but he was holding the right side of his face, where she'd punched. He had his wife to worry about, not the pain she'd just caused on his face. He didn't take it personally, since he knew why she did it.

"Suki, it's me," Sokka said soothingly. "It's okay, you're safe. You've got me, Aang, and everybody else right here. Nothing's going to hurt you."

She looked up at him, and at first, she looked angry. But she rubbed her eyes, and wiped away her tears. She took a minute to breathe. She closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. The fresh, sea salt air definitely contributed to helping her calm down. She stood up on her own, and opened her arms to give Sokka a hug. He accepted her hug, and held her close.

"I'm sorry," Sokka whispered.

Aang watched with an expression of sorrow on his face. It seemed as though everyone around him was slipping already. It wasn't even early enough for them to be awake, and everyone had already seemed to be falling apart. He heard fast footsteps coming from the temple, immediately assuming they belonged to Zuko or Mai. He didn't bother turning around.

He saw his shadow suddenly, and felt the warmth of a flame from behind him. Zuko had run out from the temple, after waking up from Suki's screams. He stopped at where Aang was standing, and quickly noticed Sokka attempting to soothe Suki. He leaned in to whisper to Aang about the situation. He'd asked if her screams were caused from post-trauma, and Aang only nodded.

Zuko wanted to step in, and offer his help, but he figured Sokka could handle it. It wasn't much of his business, either. He just stood back and watched with Aang.

After a few minutes of them standing out in the cold night of late winter, Suki regained the strength and courage to go back inside. She had her hands wrapped around Sokka's arm the whole way back. Aang and Zuko kept their path illuminated by bending a small flame in the palms of their hands. It also happened to be a nice source of heat. When they were just about to reach the door, Aang jumped ahead and opened it for the group.

When they each entered, he closed the door behind them, and walked with them back into the kitchen. He immediately lit up the room by turning on the lanterns, and the ceiling lights. He pulled out three chairs for his friends, and they sat down together at the kitchen table. Suki had her hand interlocked with Sokka's, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Would you like me to make that cup of tea you mentioned earlier?" Aang offered.

"I'm sorry," Suki apologized. "I didn't mean to have an episode like that. And I most certainly did not mean to wake you up, Zuko."

Zuko shrugged, "I was already up. Honora just started sleeping through the nights, and I'm still used to waking up around now to tend to her. Don't worry about it."

Suki smiled warmly and cooed at the mention of his newborn daughter. It almost made her miss having an infant around her house. Now that Koda was a toddler, all the excitement of having a new baby in the house had vanished. She didn't mind the necessity and constant attention a new born baby always needed. She missed it. Not that Koda didn't need and eat up most of their attention, but it's different with a new born.

"That's going to be me, shortly," Aang said with a sigh, which could have been mistake for a groan.

"But you're so amazing with kids," Suki commented. "Not to mention, you love them."

Aang took the tea off from the stove, and grabbed cups for everyone. He placed them out in front of everyone to grab, then returned to walk the pot over to the table. He took the empty seat next to Zuko, and began to pour tea into each of their glasses.

"Of course I do," Aang said. "But, I also love a full night of sleep. And with everything going on in the world right now..."

He stopped to groan. This whole outbreak had blown up in his face, and went from an issue only in the Earth Kingdom, to an issue for the rest of the world. And the worst of all, Aang had no control of that happening. He didn't see it coming. He thought the quarantine was secured, and that the Biology and Other Sciences Unit were getting closer to discovering a cure. He didn't expect the disease to reach all the way to the fire nation, and now, to the southern water tribe. He knew it had spread to a few Earth Kingdom villages, all thanks to one person who'd managed to sneak out of quarantine, but he never expected it to spread this far.

He put his head down on the table, and sighed. Everyone at the table looked at him with sorrow and/or concern. Zuko placed a hand on his back, and gave him a gentle, friendly pat. He couldn't imagine the stress Aang was going through.

"Wow," Aang commented, his head still down in his arms on the table, "Aren't we all a mess."

He ended the statement with a chuckle, but he was sad to say that he was being serious. No one else had let out the slightest laugh at his comment, since it was true. And the reality of it was too real to even let out the littlest chuckle. He sat back up in his chair, and looked around at his friends. They all wore a hopeless expression on their faces, and needless to say, Aang was feeling quite hopeless himself.

"At least we're all in the same boat," Zuko commented. "Sorta."

Suki and Sokka shrugged. Everyone was stressed out, whether it was for their personal problems, or political problems. The tea was definitely helping, but not enough. It was relaxing at the time, but it didn't take away from the fact that the disease was still killing plenty of people, and plenty of people all over the world now. Aang dramatically rubbed his face, and let out a long, exaggerated groan in the process.

"Maybe we should all just sleep on it tonight," Sokka eventually said. "I mean, well, for whatever amount of time left in this night."

Zuko and Suki immediately agreed, but Aang hesitated. He remembered Katara, and how she'd fainted from shock not too long ago. As Suki and Sokka were scooting out of their chairs, he stopped them, and everyone at the table froze.

"What's up, Aang?" Sokka asked, settling back down in his seat.

"What do I do about Katara?" He asked, sinking down into his chair. "She fainted. What do I do? Do I try to wake her up, or do I let her sleep? I don't want something to happen while she's unconscious for so long."

"If she hasn't regained consciousness by now, we've got to take her to the emergency clinic," Suki answered. "I'd hate to add more stress on your end, but that's just what you have to do."

Aang sighed. He dragged his feet as he sadly walked into their room. When he entered, she was still on the bed, and it looked like she was just resting peacefully. He went over to the bed and sat beside Katara. He gently shook her arm, to see if she would wake up.

"Katara," He whispered, encouraging her to wake up.

Her eyes slowly opened. At first, she was seeing multiples of Aang's face, and it was all blurry. Though, after blinking a few times, everything cleared up. She groaned, still feeling dazed and confused. Aang gently picked her up, and held her close to him. She looked up at him, and asked where they were. He explained her situation, what happened, and why it happened. When he told her that the disease had reached the southern water tribe she looked ready to faint again.

She frowned, "Do you think my dad will catch it?"

Aang shook his head, "He knows to stay away from the sick ones. He'll be fine."

Her eyes teared up, "You don't know that..."

He sighed, "You're right, I don't."

She looked up at him with sorrow.

"They need to hurry up with this cure already," Aang grunted.

Of course, he knew that this cure wasn't something they could figure out over night, but Aang felt like after how long it's been since the outbreak, they should have figured it out by now. It just got out of hand when it managed to spread across the rest of the globe.

* * *

Keiumi sat at the table in the apartment. She had her hands folded under her chin, and her eyes were closed. The rest of her team sat around her at the table, waiting, in silence. She'd called for a meeting almost an hour ago, but she spent the entire time sitting in her spot, thinking.

An impatient member was tired of waiting, and without permission, spoke. He was ready to move on, as he felt as though Keiumi was wasting precious time. Time that could be used to purge the rest of the population.

"We should come up with some kind of plan that will put the Avatar and his friends on their toes," the impatient man said. "Turns out, the Fire Lord is in town!"

She opened her eyes, and turned her head in his direction. The impatient man, known as Sniper, had a good start to a great idea. She smiled at him and nodded.

"We'll taunt them," Keiumi concluded. "We have the cure, and we'll let them know."

"How?" Another member asked.

"We'll tell them," She said with a mischievous grin. "Shall we write a message to them, or do we announce it anonymously to the press?"

"Note," Sniper said, "It's more personal. And that way, we target the Avatar and his friends, and _only_ them. The rest of the world doesn't need to know yet."

She smiled and nodded at him. He reminded her of Daruka. Hopefully, Sniper didn't have plans to overthrow her, or turn her in. She could tell that Daruka was heading in that direction, which caused some trust issues on her end.

"Someone get me some paper," She ordered, "It's time to taunt the Avatar."

* * *

It was warmer day for the winter. Spring was just around the corner and it was definitely beginning to feel like it. The general atmosphere was feeling nicer, more animals were out and about, the birds were chirping, and the leaves were beginning to grow back on the 10,552 trees on Air Temple Island. The group of friends, heroes more like it, decided it was a nice day to just relax and spend a fun day outside.

Suki came up with the idea to have a picnic. Needless to say, it was the perfect day for one. Aang rushed around the temple, gathering the essentials for the perfect picnic. He grabbed a big red blanket, lawn chairs, and toys for the little ones. He set everything up in the sand, close to the shoreline, but not too close that water would come in and ruin their time.

He ran back inside to get the basket, and fill it with food from their refrigerator. He grabbed all the fruit and water bottles he could get his hands on. Suki and Sokka were preparing the sandwiches, and other side dishes. Katara instructed them to make a popular dish from each of their friend's hometown, or home nation. She was busy with helping the kids get ready.

Izumi was surprisingly a very energetic and hyper child. Considering how calm and restrained her parents were, it was surprising to see how hyper-active she was. And it was only worse when she was around Bumi.

Katara was trying to dress Honora, who was being very difficult, and would fuss each time Katara tired to put a leg into her onesie. Izumi kept showing off her fire bending to Katara, and Bumi, and she was already decently advanced for a child her age. Her carelessness and energy level made Katara very nervous, afraid that she would accidentally set something on fire. But, Izumi wasn't her child to yell at, or discipline. Bumi kept cheering her on, encouraging her to bend more and more fire.

Poor Koda was far away from all of the fire bending. Just like Katara, it was making him very nervous. He stood off to the side, still dressed in his pajamas, hugging a teddy bear close. When Honora finally cooperated, and she was able to get dressed, Katara placed her on the bed. She grabbed Koda, and sat him on the foot of the bed, and rushed over to the overnight bag Suki packed for him. She grabbed an outfit for him, and when she returned to the bed, he was no where to seen. Her heart stopped.

"Kids," She said, "Have you seen where Koda went?"

Honora stopped fire bending, and turned her head to Katara. Bumi stopped clapping and cheering, and looked over at Katara, too. Both of them stared at her with a blank expression. Her stomach dropped, and twisted into a knot. She reacted immediately. She grabbed Honora off the bed, and instructed the kids to follow her out into the kitchen. They followed her into the kitchen, in a neat line.

Katara was relieved to see Koda out in the kitchen, clinging to his father's leg. She verbally sighed with relief, and set Honora in a nearby high chair. Honora and Bumi sat down at the table, talking about fire bending, and dragons.

"I'm so relieved," Katara told Sokka and Suki, "I turned around for one second to get Koda's clothes from your bag, and when I turned around, he was gone. I was almost ready to cry, but then he was just out here."

Sokka laughed, "He came out here running, saying he was scared of fire."

"Aw, poor thing," Katara cooed. "I could tell. Honora was showing Bumi her bending, and he was standing off to the side, trying to hide behind his bear."

She looked down at Koda, who was still clinging onto Sokka's leg. He looked up at her with innocent, but fearful eyes. Sokka looked down, and ran his hand through his hair. Just like Sokka, he had a warrior's wolf tail style, but it was very small, since he was just a toddler.

"He still needs to be dressed," Katara added. Then she directed her attention to the scared toddler, and said, "Come with me, sweetie. Let's get you dressed, shall we?"

She offered out her hand, and Koda hesitantly took it. Katara walked him back into the bedroom they were in before, and sat him down on the bed. She had him take his pajamas off while she went to get his clothes again. When she came back, she helped him step into his shorts.

"You know," Katara said, "If you were scared, you could tell me. She was making me nervous, too."

He looked up at her, "Really?"

"Yeah," She answered. "She was way too energetic. I was afraid she'd set something on fire."

Koda nodded, "It looks cool, but it's real hot, and scary. I've seen stuff on fire before, and I don't like it."

She instructed him to raise his arms so she could help him get his shirt on. When she slipped it on, she fixed his hair. She picked him up, and gave him a kiss on the top of the head.

"Yeah," Katara said, "Me too."

He smiled at her, and she smiled back. She walked with him back into the kitchen, and by then, the food was ready. Aang helped Sokka and Suki put the rest of the food into the basket. He carried it out to their spot, and set up the umbrella along with it. Zuko and Mai were already outside, laying in the sand. When everything was set up, they were the first to sit down, and start digging into the meals.

Sokka and Suki carried out a hot pot of sea prunes, while Aang ran back inside to get items they forgot, like silverware and napkins. On his way out, he nearly slipped on a piece of paper which was resting just outside of the front entrance to the temple. He set the napkins and silverware down on the rocks beside him, and read the context of the note.

_Listen up, Avatar!_

_We are a group of individuals who plan to end the world with this "disease." We are the ones who sent Kanan to spread his illness amongst the rest of the Earth Kingdom. When that didn't work, we poured contaminated water into the ocean, to spread the diseased to everywhere else! We manage to stay healthy because we have inside resources whom have made us a cure. We refuse to share this cure with the rest of you, since we will be the only ones left. We will rule the world, once the rest of you are all gone._

_If you're brave enough to face us, you can find us in an empty, warehouse somewhere almost outside of the city. Considering you made this place yourself, I think you can find us on your own. Bring your wife, the firelord, and the councilman with you. Do not inform the police about this. We have all eyes on you, if we see one police officer, or one police car, we will kill all of your friends. First goes your unborn child, Sokka, Suki, their kid, The firelord's kids, his wife, him, your kid, and last but not least, your precious wife. Don't mess with us. _

_K.S_

* * *

**Fun fact: I had the world's biggest writer's block. I went to go see 'Finding Dory' and I was inspired with an idea at the part where Hank (the septopus) poured Dory into the Open Ocean exhibit. That's when I ****decided I'd have the story take a turn, and have the disease spread to the water tribe. Thanks for reading, and as always, let me know what you thought in a review.**


	13. Cut to the Chase

**Chapter 13 - Cut to the Chase**

**Two chapters within 10 days. I think that's a record. Ah, I love summer.**

* * *

_Listen up, Avatar!_

_We are a group of individuals who plan to end the world with this "disease." We are the ones who sent Kanan to spread his illness amongst the rest of the Earth Kingdom. When that didn't work, we poured contaminated water into the ocean, to spread the diseased to everywhere else! We manage to stay healthy because we have inside resources whom have made us a cure. We refuse to share this cure with the rest of you, since we will be the only ones left. We will rule the world, once the rest of you are all gone._

_If you're brave enough to face us, you can find us in an empty, warehouse somewhere almost outside of the city. Considering you made this place yourself, I think you can find us on your own. Bring your wife, the firelord, and the councilman with you. Do not inform the police about this. We have all eyes on you, if we see one police officer, or one police car, we will kill all of your friends. First goes your unborn child, Sokka, Suki, their kid, The firelord's kids, his wife, him, your kid, and last but not least, your precious wife. Don't mess with us. _

_K.S_

Aang's hand trembled as he read the note over and over. Would he tell his family, everyone who was headed their way out for the picnic right now? Or would he spare them this time, and let them enjoy one last meal together? He couldn't help but read the line up order. The order in which all of his family and friends would be murdered. Whoever this was, they knew what to say so that it would hit him in the worst way possible. They would make him watch all of his friends die, and save his wife for last. He felt as the fear trickled through his veins, making his fingers freeze up and his skin to appear paler. His fingers and skin were physically cold. He felt his stomach twist in a knot, and his heart was pounding against his chest.

_Don't tell them now, _he thought, _Let them have fun first. _

He neatly folded the paper four times, and gently stored it in his pocket. He then picked up the silverware and napkins, and continued to walk over to the picnic blanket. He handed them out to everyone, wearing a fake smile. He looked at everyone as he handed them each a fork, knife, and a napkin. They were all smiling and laughing, and enjoying their free time together.

Suki was smiling, bouncing her two year old son on her lap. Considering what happened in the middle of the night, it was such a relief to see her so happy. Koda's laughter was such a joyful song to everyone's ears. It was pure, just like he was; innocent. Not drop of negativity in his youth. Sokka was smiling from ear to ear, seeing his wife and son so happy.

Mai was playfully teasing with her fussy infant, who kept wiggling in her lap. She was whining a little, but she was just hungry. And considering they were about to eat, the problem would be solved. Izumi was quietly sitting beside her father. She was very calm and collected for such a young age. She was smiling, but she was pretty quiet. Zuko would lightly encourage her to talk more, but she would barely budge. She was still enjoying her time, she was just very shy.

After passing out the utensils, Aang made his way to sit beside his wife and son. Katara scooted over to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He lightly kissed the top of her head, and then pulled Bumi into his lap. She then sat up straight, and joined in on the conversation the group of friends were engaged in. Everyone still looked so happy, and smiling. But Aang's smile was fake. Inside, he was ready to cry. He knew this would be the last time he'd see them all together, laughing with joy. He couldn't imagine having to kill their good vibes with such horrid news.

After saying grace, the group of friends went for the food. There was such a vast variety of foods, going from culture to nation, that there was almost too much. On the bright side, everyone was served.

"It's a shame we couldn't have Toph join us," Sokka chimed in. "I'd hate to have her miss this. Y'know, since we're all together, hanging out and whatnot."

The group solemnly agreed. They each shared their favorite stories about her, and the best times they had with her. Aang was struggling to ignore the screaming sadness coming from his gut. He felt like a piece of trash. They were all sharing happy stories about a mutual best friend, and Aang still couldn't be find joy in the moment. It must have been obvious, because he wasn't saying much.

"Everything okay?" Katara whispered, "You're awfully quiet."

How was he supposed to answer that? He obviously wasn't okay, and he had nothing to excuse for the fact that he hadn't said a word since they began eating. He began to panic, and his heart began to race again. He eventually just nodded, and continued listening to his friends' stories. Katara realized something was up, but she decided, for the sake of everyone else around her, to shrug it off.

They continued to share stories of their favorite chief of police. They were all laughing, talking about her sassiness and sarcasm. And it was as if the timing couldn't have been better, or worse, depending on who you asked, a familiar voice rung in their ears.

"Are my ears bleeding?" Toph asked, her voice carrying around the island.

"Toph!" They all cried, jumping up and running over to her. Katara had her arms open for a hug. Toph hated hugs, but since it's been a while since she'd seen any of her friends, she accepted it. They all hugged each other tightly, and then invited her to come sit for the picnic.

Aang had to hold back everything in him to not scream and cry at this very moment. As soon as they got back to the picnic blanket, he remembered the context of the note. "_We have all eyes on you, if we see one police officer, or one police car, we will kill all of your friends._" He was praying to the spirits that they were just bluffing, and they didn't know that Toph was here.

"Yum, what have we got here?" Toph asked, sniffing the air.

"Feel free to take whatever you would like," Aang offered.

"Sure thing, Twinkletoes," Toph started, "Let me just stick my hands into the nearest pot of food, and _see_ what I can get." She then motioned her hand in front of her face, reminding them all that she could not, in fact, see what was in front of her.

Aang rolled his eyes, "I know you'll eat anything that isn't water tribe food, so just steer clear of what's on the plates to your right."

Toph laughed, "What kind of meat do you have?"

Sokka smiled, "'Atta girl, Toph."

They shared a quick laugh, until Toph said, "No, seriously, where's the meat? I'm starving."

Sokka guided her and helped her get the food that she wanted on her plate. She thanked him, and sat down beside Sokka and Suki, with Zuko on her right. She placed her hand in the sand, and sensed how many people were sitting on the blanket. She noticed how everyone of her friends seemed to have at least one kid.

"Wow, looks like I've got some catching up to do," Toph said. "You've all got kids, or kids on the way. Congratulations!"

Katara smiled warmly, and placed her hand on her small stomach, which was barely showing a pregnancy. Zuko smiled down at Honora, and then at Mai.

"So sweet," Toph cooed, though she sounded sarcastic. Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference with her tone. "But what's up with you, Twinkletoes. Your heart is going a mile a minute. Got something to tell us?"

_Oh, great. _He internally groaned. _Just what I needed._

He took a deep breath, and all eyes were on him. Everyone stopped eating, except Toph, and had their eyes locked upon him. Toph's eyes were looking in the general direction of him, but her main focus was busting his chops and eating her food.

"Actually, yeah," Aang sighed.

Since Katara knew something was already going on, she placed her hand over his. She waited for him to go on. He slowly reached into his pocket, and pulled out a yellow sheet of lined paper. He unfolded it, and already felt tears trying to come on.

"I- I uh," he stammered. "I found this on my way over here."

He held up the note, refusing to look anyone in the eye. They all stared at him blankly.

"Well it _sounds_ like a sheet of paper," Toph cut in.

Hearing those words before, Sokka and Katara quickly turned their heads to look at her. Then, the siblings exchanged a confused glance, and then turned their focus back at Aang.

"This isn't a time to be funny, Toph," Aang declared. "I'm sorry to have interrupted such a great time. I was actually going to wait to until _after_ the meal to tell you all."

Toph grunted, "Just spit it out already."

"It's not good," Aang said. "I think it's best you all read it for yourselves."

He passed the note to Katara, and it made its way around the circle. Sokka read to Toph as he read it the first time. They all sat in silence, and in shock. They were each speechless.

"So I guess I shouldn't be here," Toph said. "Since I'm still in uniform..."

"Do you really think they'd know you're here?" Sokka asked. "It just sounds like, whoever this is, is bluffing. Plus, if they really were here, couldn't you just sense them?"

"To be quite honest," Toph said, "I'm barely sensing you guys. Aang's heartbeat was so damn noticeable It was distracting me. I couldn't really ignore it and sense anything else."

"Well can you _look_?" Aang angrily cut in. "As you know, I'm extremely paranoid right now."

"I guess that explains why your hands were so cold," Katara said quietly. She then rubbed them with her own.

Toph stomped the ground, and read the seismic waves that sent around the island. She sensed something on the passover rooftop, but then it flew off, which ended up just being a lemur. Other than that, there was no one else on the island.

"All clear," She said eventually. She sat back down. "Maybe this person meant when you go to face them, don't have police with you."

Aang rubbed his chin in thought, "Possibly."

They all sat around the circle in silence after that. They'd all decided that they no longer wanted to eat, so they each sat there looking at the ground. Their fear killed their appetites. After sitting in the silence for a few minutes, Suki offered to help clean up. So everyone took a plate inside to clean up. They made multiple trips back and forth, gathering up dishes and cleaning up any messes.

After almost everything was cleaned up, Katara said she would handle the mess from there. So everyone took a little bit more, and made their way back inside. Katara folded up the large blanket, and packed it into a basket. She was on her way back inside when she felt a hard surge of pain in her left bicep. The pain was so bad she cried out, and dropped the basket she was carrying.

She recognized the jab as a chi block, so within one swift movement, she turned around and bended water from her pouch, and encircled it around her. Though when she turned around, no one was there. The person had jumped behind her. And just as they were about to jab her right bicep, she turned around. She heard the sound of a fist hitting her water from behind, so she rolled on the ground, and tossed water their way. She froze them in place, just as they were running to get behind her.

She caught her breath from the sudden adrenaline rush, and started running back to the temple. She'd left the basket where she dropped it. And just as she was beginning to make her way up to the courtyard, she was jabbed again in the right bicep, and then in the back. She fell to the ground, crying out as her body hit the almost-concrete ground. Someone had grabbed her arms, and when she was just about to scream out for help, they stepped on her head, potentially knocking her out.

The assailant dropped her arms, and sent a burst of flame over to their frozen team mate, letting them free of the icy trap. The person ran over and helped the fire bending assailant with gathering up Katara, and quickly getting her out of there before her friends were alarmed.

They rushed her over to a small speedboat off the side-coast of the island. In the speedboat was a water bender, who was on the side of the two foes. The two people holding Katara quickly loaded her unconscious body onto the boat, and ushered the waterbender to hurry it up. Immediately, the waterbender made the boat move with his bending, acting like a motor. They sped off into the distance, but not directly into Republic City.

* * *

Aang and his friends were gathered in the dining area of the air temple. The adults put their children to bed, so they could speak in private about the situation considering the mysterious note. Toph had suspecting something fishy. Katara was surely taking a while to pack up a blanket, and make her way back into the temple. She excused herself from the gathering, and walked outside.

She stomped extra hard into the earth, looking for Katara. But she was no where to be sensed. Immediately, Toph ran back into the temple to alert her friends. She tried to announce it without waking up the children. When she first rushed into the room, only one person noticed how frantic she was, and that person was Zuko. Aang was in the middle of a debate with Sokka about how they should go about confronting these people, when Zuko nudged him with his elbow. Aang rubbed off the momentary pain, and looked up at Toph.

"There's a problem," She announced. "I don't know how, but Katara's gone."

Aang didn't even feel anything, he just quickly interjected, "What?"

"Katara's missing and I have no idea how," Toph said, louder, and clearer. She sounded like she was ready to cry.

Sokka turned around and looked up at Toph. He didn't know how to react. He stared up at Toph in terror. He was completely frozen in fear, and was utterly speechless. Aang, however, was shaking in anger, and jumped out of his seat. His friends were scared for their, and his safety. They were praying to the spirits that he wouldn't slip into the Avatar State.

Aang was trembling with anger. His hands were balled up into fists, and he angrily marched over to Toph. He stood there for a moment, glaring into her eyes. She bowed her head in shame.

"I'm sorry, Aang," Toph sadly muttered, "I wished I could have sensed something."

He huffed in a breath of air, "Well why didn't you?" He angrily snapped.

She took a step back, and looked up at him, "Hey, don't pin all the blame onto me!"

"Who's to blame for this, then?" Aang asked. "You just said you didn't sense anything. So if you had sensed something, then maybe-"

"Hey, no!" Toph yelled, cutting him off. "Pinning all of the blame on one person isn't cool! If you want to play the blame game, then we are each to blame for this! _We_ left her outside to finish cleaning up. _We all_ walked ahead of her after she said "hey, don't worry about the mess, I've got it." _We all_ left her outside because all she had to do was fold a blanket and bring it inside. _We_ didn't think someone would pop out of no where, and take her away, okay? _We weren't thinking about that_! So don't you _dare_ blame only me for this!" In the middle of her angry speech, she'd began to stomp at the ground, causing it to shake a bit.

Aang stepped closer to her. He was practically on top of her, hovering over her. He was peering down at her with an enraged glare. His breathing was slow and heavy. His hands were still in fists, but now they were twitching.

"But it was you who said you didn't sense anything at the picnic," Aang growled. "So, who's to say-"

"Aang, back _off_ from her!" Sokka yelled, rushing over to his side. He grabbed his arm and pulled Aang back, a few feet away from Toph. Aang growled and shook Sokka's grip off of him. "Let it go!"

"Let it go?" Aang asked, slowly turning to look at Sokka, "You expect me to just 'let go' of the fact that some stranger just took my _wife_? They took my wife, the person I love the most in the entire world, who is also happening to be carrying our next child!"

"And she's my sister!" Sokka yelled back, "But I didn't mean it like that. Let go of your thought of pinning the blame on Toph. You're wasting precious time, and letting them get further away."

Aang paused, taking in what Sokka was saying.

"Take a breath, okay?" Sokka suggested soothingly.

Aang's face softened as he looked into Sokka's sad eyes. In that moment, Sokka had reminded Aang so much of Katara; the way he was able to calm him down so quickly, and how soothing he was with him, even though Aang was beyond outraged. He relaxed, and his shoulders sank in sadness. He hopelessly walked out of the room, and into the outdoors.

He walked out into the courtyard, looking for some sort of sign where Katara could possibly be. He was frantically looking around, until his eyes trailed off to a stray note on the ground. He ran over to it, and airbended the air to suction it into his hands. He opened it up so quickly, it nearly ripped. There was no greeting.

_So, we meet again. I'm sure you've noticed that your precious wife is gone. Unless you come save her within the next 27 hours, you will never see her again. Nor, will you ever meet your second child. You know where to go. There's a hint within the letter to the exact address in this letter. The second one is that the closest bridge in Republic City from our warehouse is the Yangchen bridge. That's all you need to know. You're smart to figure this out on your own. I would have let her live within 48 hours, but you decided to invite Toph Bei Fong over with the rest of your friends._

_I told you not to tell the police. Tick, tick, tick. That's the sound of your time passing by. _

* * *

**Another note. Thanks for reading guys! Please review!**


	14. Aches and Pains

**Chapter 14 - Aches and Pains**

* * *

_So, we meet again. I'm sure you've noticed that your precious wife is gone. Unless you come save her within the next 27 hours, you will never see her again. Nor, will you ever meet your second child. You know where to go. There's a hint within the letter to the exact address in this letter. The second one is that the closest bridge in Republic City from our warehouse is the Yangchen bridge. That's all you need to know. You're smart to figure this out on your own. I would have let her live within 48 hours, but you decided to invite Toph Bei Fong over with the rest of your friends._

_I told you not to tell the police._

Aang read the note out loud without crying, which resulted in him being proud of himself for keeping it together. The entire group looked around, expecting him to break down any second, but he kept his cool. He sat down beside Sokka, not taking his eye off of the note. Sokka was a very logical man, and was amazing at problem solving. Aang asked him what the note meant; where, and what were the clues?

"Maybe the 27 is a hint," Sokka said, "because 27 Badgerport Avenue is where a lot of old warehouses are. Maybe she'll be there."

Aang grunted, "I hate to go chasing after a fight. I wish we could just rescue Katara without having to fight anyone."

"But they brought it on us," Toph joined in, "They knew how to taunt you, and reel you in as bait. I'll get a whole task of officers that'll surround the building. They won't know a thing if we all go on Appa."

"Do you realize how many people that'll be on Appa?" Aang asked. "Way too many. And I think bringing the police is a terrible idea. They'll know."

"We'll get an airship," Toph said. "And land far away, we'll surround the building from underground. Don't worry about us, Aang. Focus on defeating these people and getting Katara back."

He rubbed his chin in thought. He didn't know anything about this group. They could have anywhere from three to dozens of members. He had to take major precaution. This suspicious group already showed a bit of what they were capable of. Who knew how far they'd go? Who knew where they truly were? They could be watching them at this very moment.

"Is anyone here now?" Aang asked Toph.

"No," Toph answered. "After that, I'm more aware."

* * *

Her body was stiff an aching. Katara had been tossed into some kind of basement-type room. It was almost like a prison cell, but they had to walk down some stairs to get there first. She was thrown into the room like a bag of garbage. She was inside some kind of barred cell. It was a small area within the dimly lit basement room. The men who carried her into the room locked the door behind her. She went to jump up and try and open it, as her hands weren't bound together or anything, but she soon found out that her feet were. She fell face first into the concrete.

The men walked up the stairs, and slammed the basement door shut. When she heard them walk away, she started to scream. She fixated herself into a sitting position, and stared down at her ankles in front of her. They were bruised up with laceration marks. She must have been tied together with a rope. They must have known she'd be able to easily escape those if she got water.

She peered around, looking for any source of water. She looked up at the ceiling, looking for any kind of pipes, but there was nothing. Her eyes trailed to the top of the barred cage, and she gasped at the sight of chains hanging down from the cage. She realized they were being lowered. She crawled over to the opposite corner of the cage, avoiding them

"No way to escape it," a man's voice said in the distance.

He was metal bending the cuffs to lower onto her. She hid her hands behind her back, which made him angry.

"The more you move," he said, "the more uncomfortable it'll be for you."

She grunted, and rose her hands into the air. He closed the cuffs onto her wrists, and walked upstairs. She heard him open the door, and more people came down the stairs. Then the door shut, and footsteps raced down the stairs. Suddenly, there were three men and one woman standing in front of the cage. They were each wearing the outfits of the assailants that kidnapped her. All black covering their whole bodies, with only the eyes showing. The woman opened the cage door.

Katara looked up at them, and then her expression changed into a glare. "What do you want from me?" Katara demanded. "You want answers? You seem to have a lot more information than I do!"

A man stomped the ground, and bended a large rock at her abdomen. She cried out in pain, and almost fell back. But since the chains were from the top of the cage, she fell back, and twisted in ways she would not normally be capable of. Then the man metalbended the chains higher up, so she was now hanging from the ceiling.

"I want you to shut up," the earth bender said, "We're just following orders."

"What orders?" Katara asked with a laugh. "Did your boss-man tell you to come down here and torture me for, what, no reason?"

"We're ridding the world of its population," the woman answered. "This world doesn't belong to us humans."

"Then what does it belong to?" Katara asked.

"We're spreading this disease around the globe because the world needs to know what people are capable," a second man responded. "If people are going to live here, they need to know that humans are the main threat in this world. And once we kill you and your friends, they won't have their Avatar to protect them. They will have to fend for themselves."

Katara gasped, and the man laughed. He firebended a harsh flame at her, burning half of her top off. Her stomach was exposed to the cold air, sending chills down her spine. Then, the first man kicked a small rock out of the ground. He shaped it with his earth bending to make it sharp, and sent it directly into her abdomen. She screeched out in pain, as the shard punctured her lower abdomen. She clenched her eyes shut to bear with the pain.

"I hope that taught you a lesson," the earth bender growled. "Come on, Yazzu, Rave, lets go."

The three men left the basement. The woman stayed behind, however. She closed the cage door, and locked it. Katara opened her eyes and observed the woman from head to toe. She recognized the woman to be wearing her water bending pouch. Katara tried to yell at her, ready to tell the woman that it belonged to Katara, not her. But the pain was so intense she couldn't talk.

"I wish I could lower those chains for you," the woman said, sitting down on the ground. "I hate to see you hanging there, helplessly."

Katara looked up at her, and realized the woman was smiling. She'd pulled her masked down.

"It's me," the woman said. "Nutha."

Nutha was Katara's old friend from the southern watertribe. They'd spent a majority of their childhood together, before Katara had left the south pole to aide the Avatar. They'd ran into each other a few years ago, when she found her working at the Earthern Fire Refinery.

Katara gasped, "How'd you end up with these people?"

"Honestly," Nutha answered, "After we left the Refinery, I had no where to go. The leader, Keiumi, recruited me off the streets of Republic City. I joined her, and have been pretending to be on her side ever since. I knew what she was planning, so I went with this task group."

"You've got to get me out of here," Katara pleaded. "I need to get back home to Aang. We have to stop this."

Nutha sighed, "I'm afraid I can't do that."

Katara gasped, "Why not? I thought you weren't on their side!"

"I'm not on anyone's side," Nutha answered. "But they're so many people here. We would be spotted, and we'd both be killed."

Katara sighed, and attempted to drop to the floor. The chains held her up, and pulled tightly at her arms, causing her to cry out in pain. Nutha apologized, and threw her water pouch into the cell. She quietly opened the door, and strapped it around Katara's waist. She covered the strap up with Katara's pants, and left the cell. She locked it shut, and then called down for the earth bender.

The earth bender man came rushing down the stairs, asking what the problem was. Nutha asked him if he could lower Katara's chains. It took a few moments for Nutha to fully convince him, but he eventually did it. Nutha thanked him, and he left the basement again.

Katara had fell to the floor. There was a puddle of blood pooling out from her, and she couldn't tell where it was coming from. Nutha leaned into the bars, and whispered to Katara.

"Use that water to heal yourself," Nutha said. "Make sure you still got that bun cooking in the oven. Light, bless you if it survived."

Tears swelled in Katara's eyes. She couldn't bear the thought of miscarrying due to the torture. Though, she began to lost hope. The man seemed to have purposely earth bended and aimed at her lower abdomen, near her uterus. There was even a freaking shard stuck there. She'd be lucky if she could ever conceive again.

Nutha walked up the stairs, and left the basement. Katara used her water bending to break the chains holding the hand cuffs together. They now dangled loosely on her wrists. She then broke the ones between her two feet. She laid down on the cement floor, and used some water and place it over her stomach.

The room illuminated in blue as she attempted to heal her bleeding abdomen. The shard was still inside her, so she'd need medical attention in order to fully recover from that. So, she then focused her attention to her uterus. She was looking for the sign of her baby's heart beat. Nothing.

A tear rolled down her face, as she realized there was blood in the crotch area of her pants. She'd unfortunately lost her baby. There was nothing she could do about it now, but sit in her cell, and let out her pain through tears.

* * *

The next time the earthbender entered the basement, he noticed how she'd broke free of her chains. He continuously asked her how she did it, but she stayed quiet. Though, her silence resulted in more torture. He earthbended rocks at her, causing her to get thrown to the back of the cell. He threw more sharpened shards of earth at her, stabbing her in the arms, and one in the face.

"You better start answering me," the earth bender demanded. "Or I _will_ kill you."

"Wouldn't you want to leave that up to Keiumi?" Katara asked.

The man hesitated. How did she know her name? He shook in anger, and bended a large boulder out from the ground. He held it up above himself, and threatened to throw it at her if she didn't start talking. Katara smirked in response.

She leaped forward, bending water, from the earth bender's view, it looked as though she whipped it out of no where. She froze him from head to toe, and the boulder lowered onto the ground beside him, shaking the whole floor.

The basement door squeaked open, and footsteps were heard, rushing down the steps. The door slammed shut, and the firebender from before walked up to the earth bender's frozen body. He climbed onto the top of the cage, and lit fire from his hand and let the flame hang over Katara's head.

"One move, and I will burn your hair off," the man said, causing Katara to flinch.

She hesitated for a moment, eyes forced shut. She inhaled a deep breath, and when she exhaled, cold air came out of her mouth, chilling the whole room. The firebender began to shiver, and stopped bending. She then bended water into a blade of ice, and bended it directly up. The large sharp piece of ice penetrated the fire bender's torso, and dragged him up to the ceiling. Then, she bended water in his direction, and froze him there.

"You killed my baby!" Katara roared furiously, "No one gets away with killing any of my family or friends!"

Katara whipped up a ball of water, and sent at the earth bender's way. In the air, she turned the water into a sharp blade-like chunk of ice, and directed it right into his heart. Without hesitation, the icy remnant penetrated his heart circulatory area. The earth bender cried out in pain, and as a final move, bended the earth to trap Katara's feet and wrists. She fell to the ground, right on her back. The earth bender gagged and spat out thick blood as he took his final breath.

The firebender above, screamed out in anger, as he watched his friend take his final breaths. He was so angry, he was physically hot, and was able to firebend again. He lit such a strong flame, the entire perimeter of the cell was engorged in flames. Katara cried out, as the fire had lashed at her shoulder, frying off pieces of hair and the fabric of her clothing.

The man belched out an evil laugh, and hopped down from the top of the cage. He lit the bottom of the stairs and jumped through the flame, and darted up the flight of stairs. As he ran out of the basement, Katara heard him frantically calling for help. She laid with her bare back on the cold, hard ground. The area was so hot, she was in so much pain and stress, her eyes were getting heavy and it was harder for her to breathe. She was beginning to accept her early fate; death.

* * *

"We need to act fast," Aang whispered.

They stood outside of the abandoned warehouse on the suspected address from the note. It was all of them, their friends, and police officers that had the building surrounded. Toph was with them, confirming that she was able to get a sense of Katara. She was in a basement, which was a maze of rooms to even get to, which were all heavily guarded. She could tell that Katara was trapped, and tethered to the ground by earth. Aang tensed up at the thought.

"You think you'll have to use the Avatar State?" Suki asked him.

Aang shook his head, "I can just access the basement from digging underground. I want Toph to come with me. The rest of you, fight off these people. Trap them. Get answers. Find this supposed cure."

The group of friends nodded. Aang and Toph earth bended themselves into the ground, and disappeared. The remaining group of friends, stood at the side door, ready to pounce and break it down.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I'm sorry it was short, and I'm sorry Bryke for torturing your characters. I realize Katara may have seemed a bit out of character in this one, but I feel as though if she, or anyone, was angry enough, they would behave the way she did. And Katara is clever, so I showed some of that, too. Please review. **


	15. Battle

**Chapter 15 - Battle**

**A battle breaks out when Aang and friends face the mastermind behind it all. Katara faces her own battles of post-traumatic stress. **

* * *

The members in the warehouse were alerted after another fellow earth bender detected the Avatar and his friends outside of the building. She ordered everyone to come down in the basement, so that when the friends would break into the house, it would be empty. He had two guards stationed in the hallway, and by the area they would enter. The rest of them ran into the basement.

Katara's heart was pounding like a hammer against her chest. She was still tethered to the ground by earth bending. She heard as the rest of the assailants swarmed the outer perimeter of her cage. She tried to turn her head to look around, but it hurt to even move the slightest bit. She winced in pain, holding back tears, she sucked in a sharp breath of air.

The room was silent. Other than the flames around her, she didn't hear much. Everyone was just waiting. The silence and anticipation was almost unbearable. The silence was broken by a set of footsteps slowly making their way down the basement stairs. All of the people turned their heads to see who it was, and gasped at the sight.

"Keiumi?" A voice asked.

"I heard the Avatar is here," She spoke. "I shall wait for his ar-"

All of a sudden, the ground beneath them shook violently, and the surface was broken through with an abrupt blast. The detonation was followed by a extreme gust of air, which blew everyone right off their feet. The gust of air set out the fires in Katara's cage. The wind kept blowing, as the ground shook once more. The surface was broken through once again, but this time, it was inside of the cell. Toph appeared from the ground, and released the chunks of earth holding her to the ground. She struggled to stand up, so Toph gave her a small boost with earth bending.

Toph pulled out Katara's secondary pouch from her pocket, and tied it to Katara's waist. Katara thanked her with a hug. When she was hugging onto Toph, she heard Toph whisper an apology. Katara was confused, but Toph told her she would explain later.

Aang was apologizing as he blasted away men and women who tried to attack him. He didn't want to fight, he wanted answers. He tried telling Keiumi that, but she sat there ordering everybody to attack. He tried to get out of their way, and talk to Keiumi. Keiumi must have thought he was trying to get to her to fight.

"Please," Aang pleaded, "I just want to talk."

Keiumi bended all of her people into earthen traps, which was her way of ordering them to not attack. The Avatar hesitated before walking over to Keiumi. She looked like she was the type of person to pull a sneak attack. He slowly walked over to her, a decent amount of distance between them. She smiled at him, but it was more of an eerie grin. Aang was almost scared.

"First things first," Aang started, "I want to know why you're doing this."

Keiumi nodded, "Our organization was supposed to stay on the down low. But after Gaipan failed, our secret became known. We planned on ridding the world of humans. This disease coming about was our perfect opportunity. We've got people in the Biology and Other Sciences Unit who created a completely affective cure, and provided us with them. We also have our hands on vaccines, and injections of the disease. We wanted to spread this disease outside of the quarantine so we could purge the world of humans."

"What does this have to do with capturing my wife?" Aang asked.

Keiumi let out an evil laugh. She grinned from ear to ear. Aang shot her an icy glare, and waited for her to explain.

"I knew you, the Avatar, would be the hardest to kill," Keiumi explained, "And then I found out they gave you, and your family, vaccines, which was actually the cure. So then, there was no way to take you all out with the disease. I knew how to get your attention."

She glanced over at the cage, where Katara and Toph were trapped in earth. Toph could break out at any time she'd like, but she figured she'd just wait and listen, as it was what she did best. Katara, however, had been so tortured, she'd actually passed out from all the ruckus. Seeing her in that state made Aang's heart crumble.

"And here we are," Keiumi announced. "Did I answer all of your questions?"

"Are all the vaccines just cures?" Aang asked.

Keiumi nodded. Aang balled his hands into fists. This whole time he though they were making a slow progress when they really had a cure the entire time. He exhaled a deep sigh.

"There's one more thing," Keiumi said.

Aang stared at her with a blank expression. He waited for her to continue. She was about to start talking when she let out her evil laugh. She kicked the ground with her heel, which scared Aang for a second. She kicked a pebble out of her way, and pointed to a pool of blood with her foot.

"Look at that," Keiumi demanded. "You see that pool of blood?"

Aang swallowed hard as he glanced down and saw a pool of blood, which was followed by drag marks. He prayed it wasn't Katara's blood. He looked back up at Keiumi, who was still staring down at the ground.

"This was one of my best earth benders," Keiumi said, with a sad sigh. "You want to know who's responsible for his death?"

Aang shrugged. He figured he didn't have a choice. So he waited for her to tell him.

"Your wife," Keiumi announced.

Aang was shocked. He never figured Katara to be one to kill somebody. The fact that she felt the need to must have meant he did some cruel things to her. Immediately, his eyes teared up, and he blinked away his tears. The thought of Katara being held hostage without anyone to save her was unbearable for Aang. He cringed at the thought of what he could have possible done to Katara.

"I'm sure she had reasoning," Aang answered. "I know my wife better than anyone else on this entire planet. She wouldn't harm anyone unless she felt as though it was necessary. What did he do to her?"

Keiumi didn't like the sound of his response. She didn't want him to side with Katara. She wanted him to think she was a monster. She curled her hands into fists, and marched angrily up to his face. Aang refused to let himself flinch. She began to slowly circle around him and she talked.

"I don't appreciate your precious wife killing one of my best men the way she did," Keiumi said.

"I don't appreciate you taking my wife and holding her captive," Aang sassed back. "So I guess we're even then, huh?"

"Don't talk to me like that! I'm not finished!" She yelled. "I don't appreciate her killing one of mine. So in return, I'll have to kill one of yours."

Aang gasped. She wasn't bluffing; Keiumi wasn't one to bluff. And it was as if it were on queue, the rest of Aang's friends had found the basement, and ran in down the steps. They stood at the bottom of the steps, shellshocked. Everyone was trapped in earth besides Aang and Keiumi.

They were followed by Toph's police force. They lined up along the stairs of the basement, ready to follow any orders given to them by Toph. They noticed Toph was trapped in Earth as well, but they knew to only attack if Toph gave the orders.

Sokka tensed up at the sight of his unconscious sister in a cage. Suki looked like she was ready to tear Keiumi's throat out with her bare hands, she was so angry to see Katara locked up like that.

"Ah, and they're just on time!"

"If you go near another friend, or family member, I will end you right here," Aang threatened.

She chuckled. She figured she would have to be sly, and do it quick without him being able to stop her. Just as she was finishing circling around his front, she made her way around him so that she was behind him. She kicked the ground in preparation.

Toph sensed it, and broke free of her earthen trap. She kicked the ground, and sent a earth trap her way. But instead of an earthen trap, it was a hole. She sucked her right up into the ground. Then, controlling the earth underground, she squeezed the area where Keiumi was siphoned into the ground. She was suffocating and squishing her to death. The sudden jump of activity scared Aang so bad he leaped from where he was standing. He watched her go down into the ground.

"Just saved you a trip into the avatar state there, twinkle toes," Toph shouted.

Aang caught his breath from the shock. He yelled at Toph for killing Keiumi. He didn't plan on having her die, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He looked around, and realized he was now about to face the wrath of dozens of people. They turned their focus on him, and they began to spit out threats at him. The fire bender who tormented Katara was decently close to him, and exhaled a large breath of fire toward Aang. Aang dodged it, and put out the flame with a strong gust of air.

"We've got this place surrounded with police," Aang announced. "You will all face trial for your crimes. Do not expect mercy."

Toph metalbended the bars of the cage, creating an opening. She slowly released Katara from her trap, realizing if she did it too abruptly, Katara would fall straight to the ground since she was unconscious. Toph then called Aang over, to assist with getting Katara onto Appa and returning home.

Aang rushed over to the inside of the cage and knelt down beside Katara. He scooped her up, and brought her body closer to him. He tried to wake her up, but no matter what he did, she still laid there unconsciously. So, he then continued to observe her body.

His eyes teared up at the sight of all of her wounds. Her clothes were burnt and her skin was all sliced up. Her beautiful face was covered in scratches, burns, and her right eye was bruised. He blatantly gasped when he noticed the chunk of earth that was stabbed into her lower abdomen. His heart raced, and his stomach twisted in a nervous knot.

He raised a shaking hand, and gently lowered it onto her stomach. He used seismic sense to look for a sign of life. He nearly triggered the Avatar State when he sensed nothing but Katara's faint heartbeat. He shook violently in anger, and to avoid accidentally slipping into the Avatar State, he dug himself into the earth, with Katara. He ran underground, all the way until he was outside of the warehouse.

He was later followed by Toph, who didn't understand what was going on. She chased after him, and came up when he did. When asked about it, Aang only told her to go get the others so they could fly back into the city. Toph hesitated, but she followed his orders.

She transported through the Earth. It was much easier and faster than going through the maze of hallways in the warehouse. When she appeared back into the basement, she created a large opening for her friends to all walk through. They each jumped into the hole, and they were off.

Transporting multiple people was difficult underground. It was a little slower. Zuko ignited a flame from his palm so they could see. It was harder for them to breathe, so Toph ran ahead to quickly get them out of there. When they came up to the Earth, they all hopped on Appa, and flew a quiet, awkward ride back into the city. Aang had dropped her off at one of the best clinics in the city, which was also very relevantly close to the temple.

After delivering her into a hospital room, he'd rushed home to pack an overnight bag for Katara. He was going to bring Bumi, but he was asleep in his bedroom. Mai had stayed behind from the hunt, and took over to watch the kids. Aang had thanked her, and offered to pay her, but she didn't take it. He asked if she wanted to come to the hospital with him, but she declined that invitation as well. She claimed that hospitals crept her out.

Aang returned in a jiffy. He wanted to be by Katara's side if she were to wake up any time soon. The doctors expected her to awake soon, but the wait was killing them all. Not only that, but seeing Katara hooked up to all kinds of machines felt unreal. She was hooked up to an oxygen tank, a blood transfusion IV, fluid IV, and a heart rate monitor. She'd been injured pretty bad. But for their sake, it wasn't bad enough to have her comatose. She wasn't going to be unconscious for more than another day.

Aang was disturbed enough that they requested to run a rape kit on her. Of course he agreed, but he was still disturbed, and at that point, was ready to scream and cry like a small child. Thankfully, she wasn't touched or sexually assaulted.

Aang decided he would spend the night on the couch beside the bed. When either of his friends requested to stay with him, he wouldn't let them. He ordered them to go back to the temple and spend the night there with their children. He would be back within the next day.

After the room had cleared out, he grabbed one of the chairs and pushed it over to the side of her bed. He sat down, and stared at her unconscious body. He grabbed her hand, which was cold. His eyes teared up when he didn't feel her fingers interlock with his. Whenever he would grab her hand, she would always lace her fingers with him and hold his hand whenever he wanted to, and vice versa.

He caressed the top of her hand with his thumb. He got scared when his thumb grazed over the IV. When he stared down at it, it immediately reminded him of the time she'd been in the delivery room, when she gave birth to Bumi. She was hooked up to the same fluid IV when she was in labor with him. Of course, it was a hospital procedure, so that their women patients wouldn't become dehydrated during labor. He could remember the time as if it had happened yesterday.

His eyes teared up, and he placed his head down on the side of the bed. He cried into the soft material of the mattress. In his head, and verbally, he begged her to wake up. He begged her to wake up, and to be in perfect shape. He knew it would take her a while to recover, mentally and physically. But he was allowed to hope.

They'd removed the chunk of Earth that had been lodged into her abdomen. They closed that wound up, and healed it up. They treated all of her other scrapes, scratches, and burns. Not as well as Katara would be able to, her being the best healer in the world. But that's something she could do on her own, after she woke up.

He nearly jumped out of his seat when he heard a groan coming from Katara. He pulled his head up, and watched her, to see if she was actually waking up. He tightened the grip on her hand, reassuring her that he was by her side.

She slowly opened her cerulean eyes. She was a bit dazed at first. The room was so brightly lit, and she was used to being in the dim lit basement, which was more of a dungeon to her. She woke up puzzled, not sure where she was.

"Don't worry sweetie, you're safe," Aang whispered. His sad tears were now tears of joy.

"A-Aang?" Katara's hoarse voice asked.

He smiled as more tears swelled in his eyes, "You're at the hospital."

She looked around frantically, with her eyes, not moving her head at all. Her entire body ached, from head to toe. As she glanced down, she could see all the gauze and dressings through her hospital gown. She placed her hand gently over the wound from her abdomen. Immediately, she saw herself stabbing that man and practically watching him bleed to death after screaming about him killing her child.

"Do you remember anything from when you were there?" Aang asked. "I'd hate to sound like a police officer, interviewing you, but I just need to know."

_There were lights from the ceiling, shining bright. After being blindfolded the whole way, seeing the white lights nearly made her feel as though she was going blind. They zoomed by as she was being pushed down some kind of corridor. She thought she was at a hospital, as she remembered being kidnapped, but was hoping she blacked out and was finally waking up at a clinic. But then, they took her off from the gurney she was being pushed on. The gurney which she was strapped to. _

_They lifted her off, and when her feet touched the ground, she held up a fight. What kind of hospital was this? No, this couldn't have been some hospital. They chi blocked her, lifted her up from the ground, and carried her down a flight of wooden steps. Behind them, the sound of a metal door slammed. Next thing she knew, she was in some poorly lit room, and being tossed into some kind of cage. _

She cried out at the memory. She was hoping it would stop, but it kept going. She tightened her grip on Aang's hand as it continued to play in her mind.

_The earth bender was threatening her. Threatening her about how she wouldn't see her family or friends ever again. She wasn't going to be rescued, they told her, she was just going to rot in that cage and torture her. A person climbed on top of the cage, and poured cold water over her head, over and over. If she was able to bend, she could have done one of her favorite fighting techniques, which was nailing people to some kind of hard surface, and freezing them there. But she was chi blocked._

_When he finished torturing her with the ice cold water, he bended every little drop off of her. He made sure not a single droplet was left. Because when the chi blocking wore off, she'd be able to bend it. He made sure that wouldn't happen. He hopped down from the cage, and stood in line with the earth bender, the fire bender, and Nutha. _

_They continued to play with her, until he jabbed the sharp piece of Earth into her abdomen._

She started to cry, remembering the pain and torture. Aang had found a way to fit himself beside her on the bed, and was holding her close. He was whispering soothingly into her ear, telling her things like everything would be okay. She was safe now, and she was with him. He wasn't going to let anything else happen to her.

"He-he killed the baby," Katara stammered through tears. "How did they even know I was pregnant? Was I already_ that_ big?"

"Definitely not," Aang immediately answered. "They'd been stalking us for a while probably. Your stomach was barely noticeable, don't worry about that."

"When I was tortured, it was like they were aiming to kill the baby," Katara confessed sadly. "After I was stabbed, they then began to go for the rest of me."

Aang swallowed a nervous lump that had formed in his throat. He was all ready to cry again, just at hearing about it. But it made sense to him. He was understanding why they did it.

"Katara?" Aang asked. When she looked up at him with her sparkling blue eyes, he felt a burdening feeling of guilt. She just looked so exhausted, mentally and physically. She was beyond worn out. She looked done in every way possible. It hurt him, himself, to ask, "Do you remember what was on that first note?"

_...We will kill all of your friends. First goes your unborn child, Sokka, Suki, their kid, The firelord's kids, his wife, him, your kid, and last but not least, your precious wife. Don't mess with us._

She thought long and hard about it. She just remembered being threatened, along with the rest of her family and friends. She nodded, but explained how she didn't remember was whats on it, word for word. He decided he wasn't going to talk about it any longer, so he just shrugged off the topic.

He pulled her closer to him, and kissed the top of her head. He let her known how happy he was to see that she was okay, and that she was safe. She pulled back, however, and began to argue.

"Okay?" She asked, with a scoff. "I am _not_ okay! Do you even understand what I just went through? I was _tortured_, Aang! I had to sit there, as blood leaked out of me from multiple ends of my body, including the blood of the fetus, they just killed inside of me! I had to watch and witness the death of our own baby, right in front of me. So I may be safe now, but I'm not okay!"

It was as if a dam had broke, for both of them. Katara's dam was broken from a mix of negative emotions, mostly consisting of anger and sadness. Aang's was just full of guilt and sadness. He immediately began to cry, and rapidly apologizing. The worst part of it all, was that he began to blame himself for all of this.

Then Katara began to cry, because she felt guilty of him blaming himself. She wasn't pointing fingers at whoever's fault this was, she was just angry that it had to happen. She was distraught that she had to have her child practically ripped out of her. She wasn't wondering who's fault it was, she was wondering why it happened. She was helpless. She literally couldn't waterbend, at the time, to defend herself. She just had to let it happen. Maybe if she saw it coming, and she had bending, she could have stopped it. But she didn't, but she kept asking herself "what if." She couldn't stop it.

She curled up into a ball, and told Aang to get off of the bed. She yelled at him, telling him to leave the room, but he wasn't going to let that happen. He argued that when the last time he left, she was kidnapped. He wasn't going to let anything else happen to her ever again. She only cried in response, and shut her eyes tight, hoping he would just leave her alone at least.

But when she shut her eyes, she could still see. She was haunted by the tragic memories of the previous night, a night she wanted to forget. She screamed when her eyes closed, remembering each laceration, each stab, each burn, and the pain that came from them. She felt Aang's hand grip around her upper arm, but yanked it away, and burrowed under the hospital blanket.

"Katara!" He cried out. "It's going to be okay! It's going to take some time, but it'll all be okay again. Please tell me you can hear me, and that you understand."

She stopped screaming, but she kept crying. She stayed under the blanket. And although it was hard to hear her when she spoke, since her voice was muffled under the material, Aang understood her, and was able to comprehend what she said.

"I don't want to live with this."

It was as if he'd been struck by lightning all over again. He never knew just a short sentence of words put together could hurt him so much. Coming from anyone, hearing that would be upsetting. But hearing that from his wife, the woman he loved and cherished the most, resulted in him feeling the worst he'd ever felt before. The words hurt so bad if felt as though he'd been stabbed in the chest.

He had to sit down. He could barely focus, or think. Without realizing, he'd grabbed the cord that had the button to press to call the nurse, and he jammed his finger down on the red button. When he saw the nurse run in, he got up, and told her to talk to him outside of the room. He told her, he was the one who pressed the button.

"My wife," He explained. "She needs help. She's going through some major PTSD, and just told me she didn't want to live anymore. I didn't know what to do, so I just grabbed the button-thingy."

"You did the right thing," The nurse assured him. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room for just a couple of minutes."

"Why?" Aang asked. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to give her a shot of extra morphine," The nurse explained. "Just a shot; enough to have her asleep 'til morning. We'll have her meet with a therapist after she wakes up."

"Thank you so much," Aang said, with a traditional bow.

She bowed back, and went into the room to take care of Katara. She knew soothing her down would be a hassle on it's own. It would take a short while to even convince her to lay back down, let alone give the nurse her arm. The nurse told her that she'd have a professional therapist to talk to in the morning. Katara was iffy about it at first, but she knew she'd feel a little better, at least, if she talked a little more about it to someone who would use her information in court. Therapy meetings were confidential, which was a lot more comforting.

Katara eased down, and allowed the nurse to give her the shot. Afterwards, she was dismissed, and Aang re entered the room. He gave her hug and a kiss, and laid down over on the couch. They said goodnight, and both eventually fell asleep.

* * *

**Hooray for a pretty happy ending. Few more chapters left. Court case, and then happiness. Thanks for making it this far guys!**


	16. Trial and Error

**Chapter 16 - Trail and Error**

**Thanks to Avatar Wiki for the description of City Hall, which I tweaked! No plagiarism here!**

* * *

It was a cold, spring day in Republic City. The last week had been warmer, and sunnier. Today, it was chilly, and there were more clouds in the sky. Katara felt it was as though the bad weather was intended. She'd flown into the city on Appa, with Aang. He promised her a lunch date before their big event. Though, it wasn't an exciting big event.

She glanced up at the large, ornately decorated building. It was mostly built from stone. The exterior boasts intricate gold trimmings and an iconic green dome glistened in the little bit of sunlight above her. She took a deep breath, before entering.

The building's interior, in comparison, is relatively spacious and filled with extravagant decorations. Multiple stone pillars were located near the walls, supporting the narrow walkways on the first floor. Leading to the main Council room is a grand hallway with various rooms for different occasions on each side. She walked down the long corridor to reach the council room. When she opened the doors, it was empty.

She glanced forward, at the large U-shaped table situated in the front on a slightly raised platform, facing the open space of the room that is packed with wooden benches on which spectators would soon be seated. The first two rows on both sides, would be where the she would be sitting with Aang, Toph, a lawyer, and a few others. The other side would be where a few of Keuimi's people, and their defense lawyer, would sit. The thought of seeing them once more, free, made her angry.

When she glanced at the table that was set up, where she would testify, sent chills down her spine. Immediately, she could picture herself, being forced to remember the traumatic experience of her torture. The memories were flooding in her mind, and taking over all of her thought.

_The earth bender bended a rock from the ground, and used his abilities to shape it into an object that looked like a dagger. He then forced the shard to impale her lower abdomen, puncturing near her uterus, potentially killing her unborn child. _

She was snapped out of it when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. She nearly jumped out of her feet, since she was caught off-guard. She was relieved to see it was just Aang. Though, he noticed how tense she was, and he wrapped his arm around her. When he looked at her, her head was bowed, and she wore a frown on her pretty face. Seeing her so sad, made him sad. He knew she was still extremely traumatized, but she was given nearly 2 months to recover before immediately going to face trial.

There was a short pause before he suggested, "Why don't we go on that lunch date I promised?"

With her head still bowed, she sulked, "Are you sure you want to take me out to _Kwong's_, and then sit through hours of trial and testimony with me?"

Aang sighed. He could still hear the sadness that hung in her voice. He knew that taking her out would make her happier, but right now, she was feeling guilty. That was the last thing he wanted her to feel, especially since she was still so traumatized. He wanted her to stop feeling all of the negative emotions she'd be going through ever since she was tortured. He wanted to make her happy, even if it was just for a spare hour of their time.

"Considering how the events of this last year have butchered all of our free time," Aang started. "I wouldn't want to do anything, other than take you out for a nice lunch date, and be by your side and fight for your right in court."

Katara sighed, and turned to look at him. She was on the verge of tears, and when she peered up at Aang, he nearly winced. She looked so hurt, physically and mentally. He could tell she was exhausted, again, both mentally and physically, as if the dark bags under her eyes wasn't enough evidence. When looking into her cerulean eyes, he remembered all the past nights she would be awake, sobbing into her pillow; the nightmares and flashbacks keeping her from falling asleep. All the weight she lost since she wasn't eating correctly. Her figure was skinnier than it had ever been.

All he could do was hold her as she cried each night. Sometimes, it would wake him up, and he would feel guilty. He wouldn't know how long she'd been crying if it had woken him up. He would wrap his arms around her, assure that he was still there by her side, and try to soothe her back to sleep. It would barely ever work.

"Look," Aang said soothingly, lightly caressing the side of her face with his palm, "I know we've got a long day ahead of us. I can't imagine what it's like for you, or what you're feeling right now. But as of this moment, we need to take our minds off of this whole trial, and go out for a nice meal. My treat. It'll be fun!"

She smiled up at him, though she still looked teary. She nodded, and appreciated him going out of his way to make her happy. She grabbed his hand, and interlaced her fingers with his. Together they walked out of the courtroom, both smiling from ear to ear.

* * *

The day cold day was now an even colder afternoon, in Republic City. The last week had been warmer, happier, and sunnier. The mostly cloudy day turned into a gray, cloudy late-afternoon. Katara felt it was as though the bad weather was intended, especially now as the trial was just moments away, and the sky was so dark. She'd flown back to City Hall, with Aang. They had just finished their promised lunch date before the big event. Though, it wasn't an exciting big event.

In the beginning of the outbreak, the Council had disbanded. After Keiumi had been "put in her place," the council had regrouped, and was ready to set justice in the city. Republic City was doing much better. The cures were all handed out, and the world was just facing the tail-end of the disease.

She was hesitant to walk into the building. When she reached the front steps, she physically paused. Aang noticed this, and though he was just a few steps ahead, he stopped. He turned around, and looked down at her, and noticed she was almost in tears once again. So, he walked down to her level, and wrapped his arms around her. He used his air bending to have his cloak fluff up, and then wrap around the both of them. He knew it was her favorite type of hug from him.

"You're going to get in there, and you're going to show them all what a true victor looks like," Aang whispered. "You have all the information you can use, to verbally wreck them, and set them in their place. Their rightful place, behind bars."

She nodded, though she had already began to cry. She blinked, and fresh tears rolled down her face.

"You can do this," he told her, "One last fight, and this one, you'll win."

She wiped her tears with the interior cloth of his robe. She thanked him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He kissed her back, and together they walked into City Hall.

When they reached the courtroom, people would stop what they were doing, turn around, and watch them walk in. They tried to ignore everyone's stares, but it seemed like people were almost gawking at them. Then, Katara began to feel self-conscious.

_Is it the way I look? Am I too pale? Do I look sick? Am I not dressed right? Why are they all staring at me?_

She nudged Aang, but Aang didn't take his eyes off of his direct line of sight. He just wanted to get to the front and sit down. They were half way down the aisle, when she whispered to him, "Do I not look nice or something?"

"What makes you think that?" he asked in a whisper. "You look fantastic!"

She smiled, and found her spot in the front. She sat down, and looked around, tapping her fingers nervously on the surface of the mahogany desk. Aang put his hand on hers, and held it. Her fingers felt like ice cubes. He felt sorry, as he could tell how nervous she was by just how cold her fingers were.

Toph came in with a few of her police officers, who Aang recognized as being there that night they found Katara. They must be witnesses for the trial. Only one of them sat beside her in the front row. The other four were behind them in the second.

Seeing Toph dressed so nicely was a rare occurrence. She wore a beautiful, short sleeved, formal, green shirt, with a cream colored pencil skirt. Seeing Toph in any kind of skirt or dress any day was extreme unusual. She could tell that Aang and Katara were staring at her, even though she couldn't even see herself. She ignored them, and just sat down beside Aang.

Next to come sit beside them was Zuko. He wore his usual robes he'd wear when running the throne. The maroon robes moved from the slight gust of air caused by the motion of him sitting down. Each movement, each step he made, looked so stiff. Aang had wondered if he was really nervous, or if he'd ever been in the court, on trial, ever before. Aang knew that if he teased, or laughed at Zuko, his face would turn bright red. Not only that, but now was not the time to joke around.

Sokka was also involved in the case. As a councilman, and being in trial, he wasn't allowed to be with the other members. He had another representative for the Southern Watertribe to substitute in for him. He came in right behind Zuko, wearing what he'd usually wear as a councilman; his authentic, formal, southern water tribe gear.

By the time everyone was in the courtroom, Katara's heart was pounding nervously against her chest. She didn't know why she was doubting herself. Maybe if she wasn't in such a bad state of mind right now, she'd be more brave? It's not like she was going to lose. Her testimony would be solid, and she had the whole court on her side, as she did nothing wrong. She was captured and tortured. She was being victimized, but she would win.

Along with the council members, they had called in a judge. The judge, a woman, sat in the middle of the council, with the five other members on both sides at that half-circle table. The entirety of the case would take hours to resolve. They had to call Katara up for being a victim to crime, and Toph up for committing murder. They called Katara up to the witness stand, where she would testify.

"Master Katara," The judge started, "Walk me through the events of the time you were captive."

Katara took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and began speaking. She told the story about how she was having a picnic with family and friends, motioning to them in the front row. She explained that she was chi blocked when she was cleaning up the last of the picnic. They blocked all of her chi, and then knocked her out.

"Did you recognize the people who attacked you?" The judge asked.

"Yes," Katara answered, "I later found out when I woke up. They were the same people who tortured me."

"Explain what you saw, felt, heard, when you regained consciousness," The judge lightly instructed.

"Well, when I first woke up," Katara explained, "I recognized that I was still unable to bend. I could smell the sea water, so I knew we had to be on some kind of boat. There was someone driving it, but they were using their bending to move. They all wore what the people who took me were wearing, which was all black outfits, with black masks only showing their eyes and nose. I was frozen with fear, and I didn't want them to know I was awake so I stayed still, pretending like I hadn't woken up. I felt incredibly weak, and after that I blacked out. But when I woke up again, I was tossed in some kind of cell-like contraption, in the basement of some random kind of warehouse. They chained my wrists together, and made sure there was no water for me to bend."

Then she continued on about the people who tortured her. She explained how there was an earth bender, a water bender, and a fire bender. She explained how they each did a lot of damage, but the earth bender definitely implied the most damage.

"It was strange," Katara commented. "When I was being tortured, it was like my body was a target. They would bend their elements at me, but it was mostly towards my lower abdomen. It was like they were intending to-"

She hesitated, and the judge quickly asked her to continue.

"It's like they were intending to kill my baby."

The judge raised an eyebrow, "So you were pregnant at the time, or you still are?"

She sighed, "Unfortunately, I lost the baby. The earth bender had bended a chunk of earth to make a dagger-like object, or shard. He bended it directly at my abdomen, and I think that's what made me lose the baby."

"Is this the earth bender that you later murdered?" The judge asked.

The question threw Katara off-guard. She knew she killed him, but hearing the word "murdered" only made her feel guilty. Her stomach felt like it twisted and flipped around in every direction. After the slight hesitation, she confirmed that she had murdered him.

"It was purely out of self-defense," Katara went on to explain, "I was finally able to get my hands on some water, and when they returned to torture me, I used my abilities to bend at him. The moment before they'd come back down to torture me, I used the water to heal myself. Incase you didn't know, I am known as the best healer in the world. While I was healing myself, I focused my energy on my lower abdomen, and uterus. That's when I noticed that I could not sense the baby's energy, and saw the blood in my pants. At that moment, I knew I'd lost it. I finally felt powerful again, and took the only chance I could to take him down."

When the judge asked her how she got her hands on some water, Katara explained her run-in with Nutha. Nutha, her old friend from her hometown. Katara even explained how Nutha ended up with the assailants. Being an old friend, she helped her out. It was like Nutha was some kind of double agent. Katara was disappointed when she was told by the judge that they had no idea of Nutha's whereabouts.

The judge had called up all of the witnesses who were on Katara's side. After receiving each of their testimonies, the judge had called Katara back up to the stand. After hearing about Katara's friends and family witnessing the torture, and having to hear Aang talk about Katara's post-traumatic stress, was enough to declare Katara as innocent. She called Katara back up to the stand, so she could deliver the final verdict for Katara's side of the case.

"It seems as though you acted with vengeance-" The judge said.

"I'm sorry," Katara cut in, almost with sass, "If you had been kidnapped, tortured, lost your baby, who could have been the world's next airbender, don't you think you would have acted with vengeance?"

"I don't like that tone, Master Katara," The judge answered with an annoyed ring in her voice. "As I was saying... Even though you acted with vengeance, it is still very clear that this murder was still acted out with self-defense."

Katara smiled, and finally, almost felt at peace. The judge then explained how the men who were involved in torturing her would be sentenced to life in prison. The fire bender received a 15 year sentence for conspiring with multiple criminal objectives, such as planning to overthrow the world, conspiring with the murder of Katara's unborn child, torture, and also received two life sentences. The waterbender received the conspiring with multiple criminal objectives sentence, torture, and one life sentence in prison. The rest of Keiumi's men and women were sentenced to at least 25 years in prison, for conspiring with worldly disorder and terrorism.

Katara felt as though there was a huge weight lifted off from her shoulders. Her PTSD didn't go away immediately after that, but knowing that the people who tortured her were either dead, or wouldn't see the outside world ever again, was definitely reassuring. She was happy to return to the front row of the courthouse, and embrace Aang in a long, happy, comforting hug.

The trail wasn't over though. There was still time to interrogate Toph. As she was there for the murder of Keiumi. She went to the stand, where she would be interrogated by the judge and other members of the court law.

She took a deep breath, and made her way to the stand. She visibly did not look nervous, but she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She was getting tried for a murder case. As the chief of police, that doesn't look too well. Thankfully, the case hadn't been leaked to the public.

"Chief of Police, Toph Bei Fong," The judge started. "We're here today to talk about the murder of Keiumi. Can you tell me about the events of the night she was murdered?"

Toph nodded gracefully. She explained how they'd found they had received a few letters/notes from this group of people. On the third note, there were plenty of clues which drew them to the location Katara was being held captive. Toph explained how these letters were now bagged in evidence. Then she went on about the night they went to go rescue Katara.

"We were afraid," Toph said, motioning to her group of friends in the front row. "In the letter, they told us we only had 27 hours to find Katara, or else she'd be dead herself. We didn't want to risk that. So, we developed a well-thought out plan to come and rescue her. Although, when we were there, I used my bending abilities to sense the area around me, and realized that all of Keiumi's men and women were in the basement, surrounding the room where Katara was. I knew they were only looking for trouble. So, Avatar Aang and I earth bended through the ground, and came up in the basement. We explained how we didn't want to fight. We trapped all of the assailants there in earth, and waited for Keiumi to talk."

"What led to her death?" The judge asked.

"Her not wanting to talk," Toph answered. "She only wanted to dominate the world, promptly, by wiping out the entire population. She confessed to spreading the disease around the world, herself. Then, she was starting to talk about how Master Katara killing one of her best men 'wasn't fair' and in return, she would kill one of us." She motioned to her friends again.

"Well, clearly your friends are still alive," The judge answered. "Is this what caused you to kill her?"

The judge's tone sounded accusing. Toph took this personally, and decided to defend herself even more.

"Listen here, Judge," Toph started. "I don't like how your tone sounds. You sound like you're blaming me, as if this murder wasn't fair. Keiumi was a serial psychopath. She was ready to kill one of my friends, and not even feel guilty about it. Do you realize who my friends are? That's right, my friends are the people that rebuilt this world. Without them, you wouldn't be here right now. None of us would be. Republic City wouldn't have been built if it weren't for my friends. My friends, who are constantly reshaping this world to become a better place. They all withstand a purpose here in this world. I was defending them, along with myself. Imagine if one of them were murdered instead of Keiumi. The world be chaotic right now. The fire nation wouldn't have its leader, the council wouldn't be the same without Master Sokka, the world would be chaotic without the help of Katara, the best healer in the world, the world would not be balanced if it weren't for Avatar Aang, and the laws of justice system would be thrown into chaos if I were the one Keiumi picked to murder that night!"

The judge nodded intently. Toph made a great point, though she was very sassy. The judge was iffy about that factor.

"It's funny how you're accusing me," Toph said, "When Keiumi would be a hundred times guiltier than I am right now, if she were physically here, on this stand. Not only would she be charged with murder, but conspiracy of terrorism, and countless other charges. If you ask me, murder is justified here. The death of Keiumi is restoring balance, right here, right now. Because she was murdered, we were able to cure that awful disease, started by her and her group. Now that her people are put on trial, and facing their rightfully deserved sentences, it is balanced."

The crowd in the courthouse cheered. Toph stood her ground, and explained how she deserved to not be charged with this murder. It was justified, and she was innocent. She announced that the case was closed, and that the charges given to the guilty were to be affective immediately.

After a long moment of the judge not saying anything, she slammed the gavel, and declared that Chief Toph Bei Fong, would not in fact be charged with murder. Toph stood up, gave the judge a bow, and left the stand. When she returned to her friends, they all gave her a big hug. Katara had been teary eyed, but it was from joy. She hoped now that the case was resolved, she would finally be able to get some sleep. No more sleepless nights.

* * *

Mai had been babysitting her friends' kids the entire time of the trial. She was very happy to have them return, although it was nighttime by the time they actually returned to the island. When they had returned, all of the kids were asleep in bed.

She was laying down on the couch by the lit fireplace, sipping a cup of tea. She was staring blankly into the fire, her mind wandering off into its own world, as she waited for her friends to come back home. Mai's train of thought was broken when she heard her husband's loud laugh, a rare sound. Followed by Zuko's laugh, was Sokka's, who was also cheering.

They walked into the temple, cheering and laughing, and talking about how relieved they were to win that case. Katara and Aang walked in last, arms around each other, quietly and smiling. They stopped when their friends kept walking down the hall, eventually going into the kitchen/dining area.

Aang turned to face Katara, looking down at her for a moment. It was the first time in weeks that he'd seen her completely happy. Especially after all the trauma she'd been through, it was so nice to see her finally looked relieved. She was smiling back up at him, her face was beaming.

"I told you, you could do it," Aang said with a smile. "I had no doubt."

Her smile grew bigger. It was relieving to say that she was genuinely happy again. All of the torture, all of the pain, was officially paid off. The monsters who inflicted such horrible acts upon her were now locked away, or gone for good.

Katara embraced him tightly, for a long, loving hug. He rested his head on top of hers, and smiled. He whispered to her, letting her know that he was proud to see her so happy again. She tilted her head up, and went in for a kiss, in which he happily accepted.

The disease around the world was now nothing more than a negative memory. The cure was produced amongst the rest of the world, and after a short few months, the world was healthy again. All was well, and balance was brought to the world, once again.

* * *

**The end.**

**Thank you so much for all the support and reviews throughout the story. I can't thank you guys enough. I promise I will update soon. As for now, I'm going to refresh and continue writing one shots. Stay tuned.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or LoK. **


	17. Peace At Night

**A one shot, companion piece to the story. I'm connecting it as the last chapter, because I think it'll look too weird out as its own one shot. ****SO, I guess this is, in a way, Chapter 17?**

**Peace At Night**

* * *

It was just a mere week after the trial had ended. Spring season was finally in action. The atmosphere was lively, and chirping with awoken creatures. Bugs were starting to sing at night. Yue Bay's water was finally warming up. All of the trees on Air Temple Island had grown green leaves once again. It was beginning to get warmer at night, too. The young couple had long kicked off their heavy comforter on their bed, and slept together under a thin sheet.

Sleep is such a wonderful concept. It's the only time our bodies really get to rest and rejuvenate before taking on the tasks of the following days ahead. For the young couple, sleeping wasn't something they were able to do much of for the past couple of months. Katara would keep Aang up with her insomnia, caused by the post-traumatic stress she had previously from being tortured and losing her baby.

She was able to sleep, for once. And she was dreaming like no other night. She wasn't scarred, she was happy. Though, the dream was a bit saddening, it was nothing that disturbed her. If anything, it symbolized that she was finally at peace with herself.

_I couldn't tell you where I am. But there's a beautiful mountainside behind me, with a waterfall echoing in the distance. I don't know why, but I'm almost completely naked. I don't even care that I'm naked because I'm alone. I only have bindings covering my bottom. _

_I look down, and I'm cradling a baby in my arms. The baby's eyes are closed, but for some reason, I knew he belonged to me. The baby's eyes open, and he has Aang's beautiful gray eyes. They even had a hint of blue in them. I held the child out in front of me, and we made eye contact. He immediately knew who I was, and reached his tiny little arms out for me._

_I smile, with tears in my eyes. This is my son, I finally got to meet. He's so beautiful. His skin is a light tanned shade, so smooth and chubby. He was so small he fit within both palms of my hands. My fingers just fit over the top of his small head, which had a wisp of dark-chocolate brown hair. My index finger gently smooths through the streak of hair. So soft and thin._

_I look around me, wondering if anyone else can share this beautiful moment with me. But alas, I am completely alone. Where's my husband? Why isn't he here? I'm a bit taken aback, but mostly confused. My husband should be here. _

_After gazing around, I look back down at my hands, expecting a child. But there is no child there. My stomach flips, and I am full of fear. I look down at my bare legs, and for a moment I see nothing. _

_But suddenly, there is a small black hand print. It looked like ink. It is followed by another, and I realize this is my baby crawling away from me. But why can't I see him? He's dead, of course. He was never there in the first place. But that's okay, he'll always be here in spirit.  
I follow the trail, as he has now crawled off of me. He leads me along the shoreline. The damp sand has no imprint, but the inky hand prints still appear. _

_He leads me to the water, and I watch his hand prints wander into the waves. I chase after him, but it's no use. I don't know how, but I knew this was him leaving to the spirit world. This is how he let me know. _

_I smile as a tear rolls down my cheek. Goodbye my son, if we ever meet again._

They made it through the night, without waking up once. Not a single disturbance. Things were finally looking up for them. It was all going to be okay.

* * *

** Sorry, I haven't come up with anything new. I've been writing some random one shots, here and there, but they're mostly unfinished. The ones I HAVE posted aren't even ATLA related. **

**Recently, I've experienced a loss in my family, and It's drawn me back to writing again. Writing something like this actually made me feel better. But, that won't last. Expect a depressing story, sorry guys.**


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